(Hard Bop) [CD] Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) - 2004, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

As a CD reissue, it's a crime that this very first outing by Johnny Griffin as a leader is only available from Japan in an irritating paper sleeve that comes apart down the center. OK, enough bitching. Here's the skinny: Griffin's first date featured the saxophonist in the company of Junior Mance on piano, bassist Wilbur Ware, and session drummer Buddy Smith. The program features eight tunes that were fairly standard fare for jazzmen in 1956, such as "These Foolish Things," Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays," and the Youmans-Greene nugget "The Boy Next Door." These are played with the requisite verve and mastery of harmony, rhythm, and melodic changes, but they don't really stand out. What does stand out in this program are Griffin's originals, such as "Satin Wrap," which has since been covered by any tenor player worth his mouthpiece. It's a funky blues number that does not fall headlong into the hard bop swinging that would be so pervasive in the tenorist's style. Instead there are more formalist notions that suggest Paul Gonsalves and Coleman Hawkins. In addition, the album-closer, "Lollypop," comes out swinging hard with an R&B hook that digs in. Mance propels Griffin with fat, greasy chords that suggest a Chicago bar-walking honk frenzy, but Griffin's own playing is too sophisticated and glides like Lester Young around the changes. Also notable here is Ware's beautiful bop run "Riff Raff." The bassist knew not only how to write for but arrange for horns. Mance and Griffin are in it knee-deep, note for note, with Mance adding beefy left-hand clusters to the melody as Ware and Smith play it straight time until the solo, when the middle breaks up and everybody goes in a different direction. It's got the hard bop blues at its root. This recording is brief, as it originally came out on a 10" LP, but is nonetheless a necessary addition to any shelf that pays Johnny Griffin homage.

EAC extraction logfile from 15. May 2006, 4:52 for CD
Johnny Griffin / J.G.
Used drive  : LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1633S   Adapter: 0  ID: 0
Read mode   : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 12
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
                     44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
Other options      :
    Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
    Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
    Installed external ASPI interface
Track  1
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\01 - I Cried For You.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.00
     Peak level 70.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 3FBBF0ED
     Copy CRC 3FBBF0ED
     Copy OK
Track  2
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\02 - Satin Wrap.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.88
     Peak level 70.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 4A00422A
     Copy CRC 4A00422A
     Copy OK
Track  3
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\03 - Yesterdays.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.66
     Peak level 70.4 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC C8AD4437
     Copy CRC C8AD4437
     Copy OK
Track  4
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\04 - Riff-Raff.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.94
     Peak level 70.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 7BC58AEA
     Copy CRC 7BC58AEA
     Copy OK
Track  5
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\05 - Bee-Ees.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.97
     Peak level 70.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 591FA4B3
     Copy CRC 591FA4B3
     Copy OK
Track  6
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\06 - The Boy Next Door.wav
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     Peak level 68.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 45FE69B2
     Copy CRC 45FE69B2
     Copy OK
Track  7
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\07 - These Foolish Things.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.54
     Peak level 68.1 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC C249A6A1
     Copy CRC C249A6A1
     Copy OK
Track  8
     Filename D:\FLAC\Johnny Griffin - J.G. (1956) [FLAC] {2004 Verve Music Group}\08 - Lollypop.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:03.74
     Peak level 70.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC A15F4227
     Copy CRC A15F4227
     Copy OK
No errors occured
End of status report

REM GENRE Jazz
REM DATE 1956
REM DISCID 6E062708
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.95b4"
PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
TITLE "J.G."
FILE "01 - I Cried For You.wav" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "I Cried For You"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Satin Wrap"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 00 03:34:32
FILE "02 - Satin Wrap.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Yesterdays"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 00 03:02:40
FILE "03 - Yesterdays.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Riff-Raff"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 00 02:28:20
FILE "04 - Riff-Raff.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Bee-Ees"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 00 03:07:56
FILE "05 - Bee-Ees.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "The Boy Next Door"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 00 03:50:07
FILE "06 - The Boy Next Door.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "These Foolish Things"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 00 03:15:38
FILE "07 - These Foolish Things.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "Lollypop"
    PERFORMER "Johnny Griffin"
    INDEX 00 03:33:06
FILE "08 - Lollypop.wav" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00