Grant Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand LP (Tone Poet Vinyl Series)

The trio of guitarist Grant Green, organist Larry Young, and drummer Elvin Jones had a unique alchemy from the first time they got together on Green’s 1964 album Talkin’ About. A couple months later the trio reconvened as a quartet with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson to record Street of Dreams. For 1965’s I Want To Hold Your Hand they subtly changed their palette again by adding tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley into the mix. The result was another simmering set imbued with sophisticated soul. The quartet elevates a collection of well-known songs with their easy-going elegance from a surprisingly successful bossa reinvention of the title track by The Beatles to the bona fide bossa nova classic “Corcovado” by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The set also includes unforgettable renditions of standards including Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low,” Victor Young’s “Stella By Starlight,” and Cole Porter’s “At Long Last Love.” I Want To Hold Your Hand capped off an extraordinarily prolific 5-year run for Green that s