Johnny Griffin - The Riverside Collection (2017)

In a career spanning over six decades, Johnny Griffin has carved out a reputation as one of hard bop s pioneering musicians. Dubbed the Little Giant due to his modest stature and hard-edged sound, his fast, controlled and harmonic style has featured on some of the finest records created within the genre. Although known for playing in support of many big names in jazz - Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey etc. - as well as for his partnership with fellow sax man Eddie Lockjaw Davis, it was as bandleader that Griffin produced his best work, with his output for Riverside Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s being considered his career highlight by most critics and fans. John Arnold Griffin III was born in Chicago, Illinois on 24th April 1924. He studied music at DuSable High School, progressing from clarinet to oboe then to alto saxophone, all under the tutelage of famed violinist and musical educator Walter Dyett. Johnny started his professional career at an early age, playing in the band of blues legend T-Bone Walker at 15, before joining Lionel Hampton s big band just three days after his High School graduation. It would be Hampton that encouraged the young Griffin to switch to tenor saxophone, which became his instrument of choice for the rest of his career, although he could be heard playing other saxes - including baritone - on occasion. Griffin made his first recordings in 1945 aged just 17, while still with Hampton. This four disc collection brings together the finest material Johnny Griffin released during his years on the Riverside label. Featuring eight fully-remastered albums, containing in total more than five hours of music, this set can serve as both a fitting introduction to this truly exceptional player, and a welcome reminder for jazz fans of what an inspiring and influential musician the man dubbed the fastest tenor in the west really was at this time.