JAZZ / ALBUM REVIEWS

GRANT GREEN “The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Grant Green with Sonny Clark” Mosaic

This four-CD set delivers what’s often thought of, and pejoratively at that, as “easy listening jazz.” Here, though, the phrase refers to the singing lyrical choices made by the guitar-toting leader and his partner at the piano in terms of both tunes and improvisations. Recorded in 1961-62, these sessions--save one--feature a quartet examining such evergreens as “Green Dolphin Street,” “The Song is You” and “Airegin” with a delightful sense of grace and swing. Green, an unpretentious craftsman, concocts solid sequences of appealing melodies that always are buoyed by a solid rhythmic oomph. Clark, a masterful Bud Powell disciple, is quietly brilliant, playing in-the-pocket lines that are often stunningly beautiful. Art Blakey handles drums on some cuts and tenorman Ike Quebec steps in on a few tracks, notably a sonorous look at “Born to Be Blue.” While veteran fans will dig this collection, it also makes for an ideal introduction to mainstream jazz.