JAMFs Are Coming – Johnny Griffin

For a description of this song in general, click on the album cover for “Chicago, New York, Paris,” above right.

This first small group recording has a medium-tempo shuffle groove (quarter note = ca.128). The changes are a bit simpler than they are on our lead sheet, with Gm7 on the ninth measure instead of D♭7. There is no rising gliss (“doit”) on the seventh measure, as there is in many later versions. The bass and drums play a four-measure intro; the coda is the same as on our lead sheet.

There is some confusion as to the date of this session, recorded in Cologne, Germany. According to the Lord discography, the Vogue issue gives the year as 1967; the discography of Griffin on jazzdisco.org says 1968.

The players on this session are all members of the big band co-led by pianist Francy Boland and drummer Kenny Clarke. Aural evidence confirms that two drummers are playing on this track: Clarke and the confusingly similar-named Kenny Clare.

This is the second recording of this song. The first was a live big band recording in 1964, at the International Jazz Workshop Concert in Recklingshausen, Germany. This big band, directed by Hans Koller, includes the same four horn players heard on this Vogue recording.

The acronym in this song’s title is an obscene insult that begins with “jive”—presumably in jest judging by the song’s laid-back good humor.

This big band recording is slower and more laid-back than the "Lady Heavy Bottom’s Waltz" version (quarter note = ca.112), though still powered by a shuffle groove. The changes contain a few more passing chords like our lead sheet, especially in the last two measures; Gm7 is again used in the ninth measure. This version has the rising gliss in the seventh measure shown on our lead sheet.

The big band arrangement contains a rhythmic intro and coda, related to each other; the last two measures of the out head are tagged three times before the coda.

Johnny Griffin was a member of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band from 1967 to 1969. Trumpeter Idrees Sulieman also joined this band in 1967 and stayed with them until 1972.

Oscar Peterson interprets this song at a slow, laid-back tempo (quarter note = ca.100). He takes some liberties with the melody, introducing a variation the second time through both the in and out heads which focuses on the tonic in the first measure, instead of the third. The changes have relatively few passing chords, with G7 in the ninth measure instead of D♭7. Oscar plays a chorus of unaccompanied solo before the head, in his classic block-chord style. There is a coda which contains a chromatic “walk down,” ending on a slightly unexpected delicate G♭maj7 to Fmaj7.

"Another Day" is one of three albums recorded by Oscar Peterson over four days in 1970, in Villingen, Germany. The other two are “Walking The Line,” another trio album, and the solo piano album “Tracks.”

This version returns to a more laid-back feel and tempo (quarter note = ca.112). Tenor sax and guitar have the melody in unison. There are a few more of the passing chords as in the lead sheet, with G7 again on the ninth measure.

Johnny Griffin returned to the USA in 1978-79. "Bush Dance" was one of a few recordings he made in Berkeley, California, during this time, some of which have Ronnie Mathews on piano. Guitarist George Freeman had played with Johnny Griffin back in the ‘40s; he’s better known for his work with saxophonist Gene Ammons. A week before the “Bush Dance” sessions, Cedar Walton played on the Philly Joe Jones sessions for the albums “Drum Song” and “Advance,” alongside trombonist Slide Hampton and saxophonist Harold Land.

A laid-back, very swinging blues head with a classic hard-bop sound. The melody is in a bluesy bag but outlines the changes a little especially toward the end. The changes in our lead sheet come from this "Chicago, New York, Paris" recording. This version has a few passing chords, notably a descending sequence in the seventh and eighth measures (to D♭7) and a "walk down" with a chord on each beat in the last two measures. Many other recordings have more simplified changes. This recording has a relaxed 2-feel (quarter note = ca.104).

Contrary to this album’s title, it was recorded entirely in New York, but the title does outline Griffin's career. Johnny Griffin had previously recorded with trumpeter Roy Hargrove a year earlier on the latter’s "With The Tenors Of Our Time", also featuring Rodney Whitaker and Gregory Hutchinson. Other songs on "Chicago, New York, Paris" have Victor Lewis on drums.