Search - Grant Green, Donald Byrd :: His Majesty King Funk & Up With Donald Byrd

A mixed bag of Grant and Donald treats 3.5 stars

williedynamite | 10/24/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Donald Byrd and Grant green were two jazz/funk innovators. His majesty king funk/ Up were orriginally albums by the both of them that were originally released seperately. For what ever reason the cd generation gets the pleasure of hearing both albums on one cd. Sounds good, real good don't it. UH-OH! Too good to be true.. Not exactly. The first album his majesty king funk is grant green near or at the top of his game. It's standard green. It opens with the mid- tempo selma watch which is followed by a jazz standard weep a willow for me which grant of course makes into something all his own. Cantaloupe woman is a staple of grant green best of collections and a welcome addition here. Daddy grapes, the sole original piece is also worth a listen. The real treat of listening to this album is to listen to grant's version of That Lucky Old Sun which when given the green treatment takes on a life of it's own I'd give the grant green protion of the Cd 4 stars.The Donald Byrd album Up is honestly one of his weaker albums but it has one giant plus. The problem isn't Byrds playing it's impeccable as usual. the problem is his use or overuse of the byrd singers. It seemed as thiough he was trying to capture a mainstream audience by using vocalists where they don't belong. Actually their voices wouldn't be that bad had they been used sparringly. On blind man blind man and house of the rising sun they actually don't sound that bad. But onb the two blues numbers that DB covers the results are embarrasing. (See see rider and boom boom, my babe) But there is a silver lining in this somewhat clouded album. On the Cd there is an alternate version of Cantaloupe island which is easily the best song on this album. I give the Donald Byrd part 3 stars Add the two and divide by two and that 3.5 stars. A good album but not a must have unless you are a grant green fan."

A Good One...

M. Conklin | Illinois, USA | 07/21/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"his majesty king funk was green's only recording for verve. on it, green heads a tight quintet, that includes harold vick on tenor sax /flute, larry young on organ, ben dixon on drums and candido camero on the congas, through a number of funky cuts and a couple of soulful ballads. it's comparable to his latter soul and boogaloo material on blue note, such as green is beautiful, but lacks the rawness and spontaneous interaction of some of those late 60s/early 70s recordings (for better or worse). green mostly focuses on standards, but this recording was in his pre-r&b era, so the standards are more jazz-oriented and less pop. it's polished and even a bit schmaltzy at times, but green's playing and is on the money. young and vick are equally as good. it's a fairly strong outing, but green put out many similar (some better) albums on blue note and muse and this one is easily lost in the masses."