Criteria For Ranking Favorite Bands

My favorite bands/musical artists tend to meet the following criteria:

One or more really strong individual album.  At least one totally classic album that is a desert-island disc or at least an all-time favorite.

A strong entire catalog.  The officially-released back catalog should be expansive, diverse and rewarding.

Great, non-duplicating live show.  Someone who doesn't play the exact same set every night, but varies up the order and selection of songs on a nightly basis.  And/or someone I would travel 3+ hours to see, and/or see multiple times year after year.

Re-watchability, Re-listenability. A favorite should be one of the go-to bands that I repeatedly search for on YouTube and other online streaming sites.

Here are some bands that meet this criteria.

Mary Halvorson
The album "Thumbscrew" that Mary was involved with continues to be a favorite, but I also like almost everything I've ever heard her do.  It's hard to keep up with her prolific output.  I've never seen her live, although if I was doing an NYC trip I'd be looking to see if she was playing anywhere.  At the moment, she's one of my favorite artists to search for video content of.

The Murphy Beds
It doesn't get any better than their 2012 "Murphy Beds" debut album.  That's the only one by this duo so far.  I'm optimistic that forthcoming releases will be good.  I just saw these guys live last week.  It was worth the wait.  If there were more high-quality content out there for The Murphy Beds I would listen to it.  I tuned in to their Concert Window performance last year which was cool.

Bill Frisell
"East/West", "Further East/West" and "Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian" are my current favorite Bill Frisell albums, although his whole catalog is worth seeking out.  Bill is always good live.  I search for his videos, interviews, and other performances quite a bit.

Dr. Dog
I listed Dr. Dog's "Easy Beat" as my favorite album of the 2000's (2000-2009) and it remains so.  I liked several of their initial albums.  Haven't paid as much attention to their last couple albums but what I hear/see in recent videos continues to be solid. I've definitely seen some incredibly good Dr. Dog shows, dating back to 2004.

The Jerry Garcia Band
Hmmm...is the best Jerry album "Cats Under the Stars" or "Not for Kids Only"?  All of his albums have merit. Finding video footage of a late 70's JGB show is always a great treat. Jerry is my all-time favorite musician. His guitar playing, singing voice, spirit and demeanor is 2nd to none. I got to see the JGB once - in Richmond, VA 1993.

The Hot Seats
The Hot Seats aren't really an album band, but all of their albums are good, if that makes any sense. They are a local favorite live band that I've seen a lot.  I would love to time a trip to Scotland when they are playing there. I enjoy seeing videos and listening to recordings of their European shows, just to see how they come across to those audiences.

John Prine
John Prine's self-titled first album has been on my all-time top ten list for 20+ years.  The only drawback to John's full catalog is it all starts to sound alike after a while. The few times I've seen John Prine have always been great.  He might be the best in the world for an around the campfire kind of guy.

Neil Young
"Harvest Moon" is probably my favorite Neil Young album.  After "Harvest Moon" there's "Zuma", "Tonight's the Night", "Comes A Time", "Greendale" - the list goes on.  There are still Neil Young albums that I haven't listened to at all yet.  "Trans", anyone?  The one time I saw Neil Young it wasn't the cosmic experience I was expecting.  I was sorta deflated afterward.  He was just some dude playing guitar and harmonica.  Which is ironically badass.  I love watching old Neil Young interviews.

Ween
"The Mollusk" is one of my all-time top 5 favorite albums.  Other great ones include "12 Golden Country Hits", "Quebec", "White Pepper", "Chocolate and Cheese" and "Pure Guava". There are some awesome vintage late 90's performances from what appears to be public access TV.

Gillian Welch
Every one of Gillian and Dave's albums are at least 4 out of 5 stars.  When you're at one of her concerts you're seeing one of the best of all-time.  She's got the mojo.  I like to find old concert recordings and unusual covers that her and David Rawlings have done.

Medeski, Martin and Wood
"Shackman" will always find its way onto my all-time favorites. "Friday Afternoon in the Universe" is not far behind.I like EVERY album that MMW has ever put out. They are at the tip-top of bands that I always want to go see live if they are anywhere within a 2 hour radius. I love to listen to their live concert recordings.  There are a lot of full-length, hi-quality concert videos streaming online now as well.

The Grateful Dead
While most would choose "American Beauty" or "Workingman's Dead", I happen to love "Reckoning" the most of any Grateful Dead album.  Their catalog goes as deep as you want to go.  I only got to see The Grateful Dead live six times before Jerry's death. At their peak in the 70's and 80's there was nobody better. I'd rather listen to a completely random Grateful Dead show from almost any year over almost anything else.

Phish
"Story of the Ghost", "Headphones Jam", "Junta" and "Rift" could all be desert-island albums.  I like the "Siket Disc" as well.  Phish's overall output is the most robust of anyone.  I actually like all of the studio albums they've released.  Their live show is unsurpassed. Phish's off nights are better than the next band's best nights. I love listening to Phish shows from all the different points in their career.  It's worthy of never ending analysis.  Seeking out the 20 minute - or longer - jams is fun too.

List of Tunes to Learn - From 3 Years of Attending Sessions and Jams

I started regularly attending Irish sessions and Oldtime jams about three years ago, in January 2012.  Ever since then I've been keeping a running list of tunes on my phone.  If something someone played at a jam or session peaked my interest and I happened to catch its title, I would jot it down in the notes app.  Here is that digital list almost 3 years later - unedited and in its entirety.  It might be time to go through and clean this up!


Fortune D
Sarah Armstrong
Rock the Cradle Joe
Dry and Dusty
Old Mother Flanagan
Rush and Pepper
Waiting For Nancy - D
Julianne Johnson - D
Indian Ate A Woodchuck
Miss Monaghan's
Old Mother Flanagan
Little Dutch Girl - G
Barlow Knife - G
Magpie - G
Shucking' the Brush - D$$$$
Twin Sisters - D
Sadie at the Backdoor - D
Waiting For Nancy - D
Washington's March - D
Green Willis - D
Cowhide Blues - G
Sandy River Belle - G
Stony Point -G$$$$$$
Old-time Blackberry Blossom- G
Lost Girl - G digital Appalachian library
New Cut Road - D
Billy Wilson - A
Grubb Sprungs - A
Fermoy Lasses
High Reel
Dublin Reel
Calum Road
Snowy Path
Snow on the Hills
monaghan's
Boys of Malin
Jig of Slurs
Moon coin
Antholl Highlanders
Kid on the Mt
Most Covered Mt.
Ships in Full Saolh
She beg Shemore
O Carolan's
Southwindg
Josie O - G
Sarah Armstrong's - D
Big Sandy River - A
Rachel/Texas Quickstep - D
Glory Reel D
The Hearhery Cruach D
Morning Dew D
Leitrim Fancy Em
Black Rogue D
Paddy Gallaghers
High Reel A
Calliope House
Woman of the House
Kelly's Cow
Top of thenMaol
O connor's Polka
Old Bunch of Keys A
Elville (Snake Hunt) A
Road to Malvern (Light and Hitch) A
Tater Patch A
John Brown's March A
Devil in the Haysdack A
Humors of Lissobel
Dr. Gilbert's (the Kennedy Sessions)
Limerick Lasses
Trip to Durrow
Congress
Swinging on a Gate
Tripping Up the Stairs
Glasgow Reel
O'Carolan's Concerto
Battle of Aughtim
Lost Everything
Old Piss D
Molly Put the Kettle On D
Sandy River Belle G
Cowhide Blues G
Flying Indian G
West Fork Gals D
Katie Bar the Door D
Spotted Pony D
Needle case D
Southwind D
Sugar Hill D
Cricket in the Hearth D
Leitrim Fancy
Shoes and Stockings G
Cowhide Blues G
Wild Horses G
Spider Bit the Baby C
Monkey in the Dogcart C
Fun's All Over C
Grub Springs A
Greasy Coat A
Little Egypt C
Half Past Four A
Girl that Broke that My Heart
Tom Billy's Jig - trad lessons
Morning Dew
High Reel
Five Miles from Town D
Snake Hunt A
Half Past Four A
Greasy Coat A
Morning Dew
Waynesboro G
Johnny Come Along G
Folding Down the Sheets D
Logan County Blues D
Sailor's Bonnet Bothy Band
Leitrim Fancy
Black Rogue
Langstrom's Pony
Top of Cork Rd./Father O Flynn's
Stool of Repentance
Tar Road to Sligo
Joy of My Life
Snowy Path
Up Sligo
Musical Priest
Otter's Holt
George White's Favorite
Lads of Dunse
Kerfunten Jign
Green Cockade
Camp Chase A
Jenny on the Railroad A
Bull At the Wagon A
Fortune D
Logan County Blues D
New Cut Road D*****
Morgan Magan D
Fanny Power D***
O'carolan's Concerto
Johnny Cope Am
Bottom of the Punchbowl
Ships Are Sailing
Golden Keyboard
Plains of Boyle
Flowing Tide
Coleraine Jig****
Charlie Hunter's (Scottish)
Double File? A
Tipping Back the Corn A
Folding Down the Sheets D
Home Ruler
Kitty's Wedding
Farewell to Ireland
Dublin Reel
Blarney Pilgrim
Jackie Coleman's D
Bag of Spuds Am
Hag at the Churn
Cup of Tea
Wise Maid
Sally Gardens
Martha Campbell D
 Needlecase D
Folding Down the Sheets D
My Love is But a Lassie
Crooked Stovepipe
Boyne Hunt
Shoes and Stockings
Lost Girl
Devil's Dream
Tarbolton >
Long ford Collector >
Sailor's Bonnet
Irishman's Heart to the Ladies
Saddle the Pony
Tar Road to Sligo>
Joy of My Life
Maid on the Green
Brosna>Dennis Murphy's>O'keefe's
Shoes and Stockings G
Flying Cloud Cotillion G
Hobb Dye G
Old Ant Jenny with a Bonnet on her head G
Squirrel Heads and Gravy G
Fun's All Over C
Rock Andy Ag
Bull at the Wagon A
Darby Gallaghers jig
Slieve Russell
Tar Road to Sligo
Dusty Windowdills
Rock Candy A
Dusty Windowsills or Chicago Jig 3 parts
Morning Dew
Westphalia Waltz G
Squirrel Hunters D(ish)
Martha Campbell D
Humpback Mule D
Logan County Blues D
Rock Andy A
Frost is all Over
Down in Little Egypt C
Rocky Pallet C
Folding Down the Sheets D
Hog Skin C
Down in Little Egypt C
Possum on a Rail G
Jake's Got the Belly Ache A Eddon Hammons
Double File A
Three Thin Dimes A
Johnny Come Along G
Flying Indian G
Squirrel Hunters D
New Five Cents D
Logan County Blues D
Grubb Springs Amodal
Coleman's March D
Flying Cloud Cotillion G
Grand Picnic D.......
Home w/ Girls Morning D
Humpback Mule D
Johnny Come Along G
Lost Girl G
Pretty Little Widow A
Jenny on the Railroad A
Leitrim Fancy > Black Rogue
The Morning Star
Rolling Waves
Behind the Haystack
Waynesboro G
Johnny Come Along G
Grand Picnic D
Jenny Get Around G
Old French D
Humpback Mule D Illinois tune
Swinging On A Gate G
Magnolia One Step G
Muddy Creek G
Dixie Hoedown G
Rachel D
Old French D
Logan County Blues D
Man of the House
Padraig O'keefe's (Mary Bergen CD, reel?)
Dr. O'neil
Sheep in the Boat
Old Piss D
Campbell's Farewell to Redgap A
Muddy Creek G
Valley Forge D
Jake's Got the Bellyache Am
Yearling in the Canebrake A
Martha Campbell D
Lost Girl G John Salyer
Flying Indian G
Rakish Paddy
Moon coin Jig
Behind the Haystack/Munster Buttermilk
Glory Reel
John Stenson's #2
Plains of Boyle
Foxhunter's
Rakish Paddy
Alexander's Hornpipe
Glory Reel
Jessica's polka
O'connor's Polka
Providence Reel
The Commodore
Buck Mountain D
Sailing Over England A
Idle wood Chirps Smith D
Pretty Little Dog Amodal
Sally in the Garden Dm
Say Darling Say D
Platt River Waltz A
Stoney Point G
Walk that Pretty Girl Home G
Moon Behind the Hill G Melvin Wine
Kelly's Cow > Top of the Maol > O'Connor's Polka
Coleraine Jig
Osullivan's Polka > ??? > Jessica's (Sean's tunes)
The Curlew
Fine Times At Our House modal
BrushyRun G
Maid on the Green
Scotsman On the Border?
Nell Fee's
Padraigh O'keefe's
O'Carolan's Draught
Coleraine Jig
Little hills of Offally
Buck Mountain D
Kicking Up the Devil on a Holiday D
Three Thin Dimes A
Turkey Foot D
Tippin' Back the Corn A
Barren Rocks of Aden polka
Nell Fees
Father Kelly's
Can You Dance A Tobacco Hill D
Lady of the Lake D
Jay bird Died of a Whooping Cough G
Gate to Go Through G Clyde Davenport
Ladies On A Steamboat G
Chattanooga G Acuff
The Curlew D
Pumpkin Rock D
Kicking Up the Devil On A Holiday Dmodal
Jenny Get Around A
Rakish Paddy
Pipe on the Hob
Rakes of Kildare
Rolling Wave jig
Foxhunter's reel
Swallowtail Reel Am?
La Bastreague D
Morpeth Rant D
Double File A
Pretty Little Dog Am
Poor Johnny's Gone to War D
Peach Tree G
Lost Goose Bb oldtime music party Brian Vollmer
Sandy River Belle G
Tippin Back the Corn A
Home Ruler and Kitty's Wedding D
All Around the Ferry Fort barndance
Green Fields of America
Stenson's
Donegal Reel
Rakes of Kildare
Roaring River G
Magnolia One Step G
Jenny Get Around A
Irishman's Heart to the Ladies
Don't Love Nobody
Where's that Rabbi with the Preacher's Wife G
Calliope House
Glass of Beer
Calico Quickstep ? G
Yearling in the Canebreak A
Parnell's march
Humours of Ballyconnell
Cameron Highlander Danu
Kitty Lie Over > Munster Buttermilk jigs
Glory Reel
Hawks Got A Chicken G
Jimmie Allen G
Roscoe G
Wild Horses at Stony Pt. G (3 parts)
Sally Come Down the Middle D
Norman Edmunds fiddler
Hell on the Wabash G
Needlecase D
Dinah D
Yearling in the Canebreak A
Calico Corn D
Old Beech Leaves G ****good

Ten Books That Changed Your Life

There was something being shared on Facebook a few weeks back about Ten Books That Changed Your Life.  I'm not sure what the real point behind that is, but it got me thinking of assembling a similar list.

I'm currently into books that I can relate back to the learning of music.  This past May I read Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, which I definitely applied to music.  Last month I read A Mind For Numbers by Barbara Oakley, which is helping me learn how to learn, and now I've just started Fluent in 3 Months by Irish polyglot Benny Lewis.  In his book, Benny describes how anyone at any age can learn to speak any language from anywhere in the world.  Music is a language too, you know, yet I do have a newfound interest in learning Canadian French (Francais Quebecois)!

Those examples are all recently read books.  Hard to tell how these will resonate ten years from now.  But, looking farther back I can think of several books that have had significant impacts on my life.

In my very early 20's I read Paul Auster's New York Trilogy.  Not long after that I read Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World.  Auster and Murakami opened my eyes to the surreal, experimental aspects of modern fiction.  I suppose Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut also had a similar effect.  I recall very weird, synergistic and unexplainable things going through my mind and/or imagination as I read each of these books.  Some things in this world you just can't explain.

Then my trajectory backtracked slightly to the minimalist, blue collar short stories of Raymond Carver, as found in his book Cathedral.  Carver was a welcome relief.  Liking the realistic, alcohol-inspired short story, I came across Charles Bukowski's Hot Water Music which is a good place to start for a sampling of his gritty, easy-reading stories of drinking, women, gambling, writing and more drinking.  Being primarily a poet, Bukowski also opened my eyes to poetry, at least his dirty, Los Angeles roach-motel version of that medium.  I'm thinking of Bukowski's Love Is A Dog From Hell in particular.

By coincidence, or by fate, I then found another California poet -- Robinson Jeffers.  In Jeffers' poems I could relate to a perfect expression of my world view.  Here's a whole slew of Jeffers quotes that back this up.  The book I started with was The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, which is a good introduction to his work.

Around 1999 or 2000, while living in Colorado, I started an almost daily ritual of what can best be thought of as abstract journal writing.  With no premeditated ideas, I would randomly fill up a page per day with a constant flow of words, never stopping the pen or trying to be too aware of what I was writing.  If I caught myself thinking more than a couple words in advance I would purposely go in a different direction.  I kept this practice up for 3 or 4 years.  This is before I played music or blogged so it served as a primary creative outlet.

I mention this because earlier this summer, after discovering prose poet Russell Edson only days after his death, I was inspired to start doing this type of writing again, in much the same way as before.  The first time around I felt like I was acting completely on my own, but reading the classic The Tunnel: Selected Poems of Russell Edson has now provided a validation, if not a blueprint, for this type of writing.  This Russell Edson book has definitely changed my life.

I had never ventured outside the US until fall 2004 when I visited the west coast of Ireland.  I fell in love with the feckin' place, as well as international travel for travel's sake, and would return to Ireland in 2005, 2006 and 2009 before the increasing cost of flying there priced me out.  After that initial visit, I read the Irish travel book McCarthy's Bar by Pete McCarthy, which is still the best travelogue of its kind, further solidifying a love of Ireland and travel.

After visiting Ireland a couple times and developing an interest in that culture I decided to get a tenor banjo and learn to play Irish jigs and reels.  This first attempt at playing music has led me to this day.  It has also caused me to notice a connection between traditional tunes and folk tales.  I can appreciate the simplistic, weathered nature of traditional stories from Iceland, Jamaica and elsewhere.  However, Irish Fairy and Folk Tales edited and selected by W. B. Yeats is still my go-to source for this type of reading!

In 2007 I pulled a traveler's switcheroo and visited Scotland instead of Ireland.  My time in Scotland's Orkney Islands allowed me to become aware of writer George Mackay Brown who was born, lived and died in the little town of Stromness on the main island of Orkney, where we stayed.  Besides being one of the greatest British poets, Mackay Brown also wrote a weekly column in the Orcadian newspaper for over twenty years.  Not a lot goes on in Orkney, but Mackay had an uncanny gift for the mundane.  He considered his column "light reading for quiet townsfolk on a Thursday afternoon".  The collection Letters From Hamnavoe is the first of four volumes capturing this work.

I guess if I'm really being honest I should also list Watchers by Dean Koontz, which I read when I was 14 LOL.  As is my personality, I changed overnight from a kid who never almost never read books to a voracious reader whose goal was to read 100+ pages a night of everything from Steven King to Louis L'amour to Clive Cussler, to Sue Grafton to Raymond Chandler!

I don't read as many books cover to cover as I used to, and hardly any fiction any more, but the above list does provide a synopsis of the influential books and authors that come to mind this rainy evening in September.  If you share an interest in any of these books, or are checking some of these out, or have a list of your own to share, please add a comment or write to me directly!

Five Great Guitar Players: A List

Earlier this month I posted a reference to Paul Murin’s excellent essay on Memorizing Music.  Paul is the curator of the guitar instruction site High Country Guitar.  Among the info on that site is Paul's list of Great Guitar Players.  Being a sucker for lists, I checked out his favorites and was happy to see that 3 of my 5 favorite guitar players were represented!

Trey Anastasio

Here’s how Paul describes Trey Anastasio, the guitarist for Phish.

Trey is known for long, extended improvisations as well as avant-garde instrumental compositions.  Trey is a technical and creative master of the instrument. 

The key element of Trey’s sound is overdrive followed by compression.  You crank up that overdrive, and then you get a grip on it by running it through a compressor.  It creates a warm, soaring sound with seemingly (and sometimes literally) endless sustain.  A key element of his picking style has to do with palm muting - when you play with a lot of overdrive, palm-muting becomes essential to keep things under control.  By making constant (and, at this point, presumably unconscious) adjustments to how the palm of his hand sits near the bridge, Trey is able to coax a lot of different sounds out of his guitar.  

If you watch Trey's right hand, you'll notice that it doesn't actually move much when he is soloing.  His palm tends to hover just over the strings, near the bridge.  This allows him to make those constant, minute adjustments so that some notes come out as more staccato, while others ring out fully.  It also helps create a tight, focused sound.  

Many of Phish's big jams are primarily modal.  Mixolydian tends to be the most common for major key jams, and for minor keys, Dorian seems to be the go-to mode.  In most of these situations, the mode is mixed with a healthy dose of pentatonic/blues licks.

Trey commonly uses chromatic licks approaching chord tones.  Perhaps because of his compositional skills, Trey tends to build solos using motives - little melodies and/or rhythmic patterns that get repeated, moved around the neck, displaced, etc.  These motives give his solos a sense of coherence.  Personally I think Trey is better than just about anyone (in rock and roll) at this kind of thing.  His solos almost always feel very deliberate, and rarely sound like he's just "noodling" in search of an idea.

Many of Trey's more complex compositions feature a "theme and variation" approach, where he takes a lick or melody and moves it around through different keys, sometimes extending it, other times truncating it.  Most of Trey's complex compositions, regardless of how complex they are, are oriented around a groove.  They keep the crowd dancing as they wind through all kinds of weird musical places.  

Jerry Garcia

Next on my list would have to be Jerry Garcia.  Here’s what Paul has to say about ol’ Jerry:

Founding member of the Grateful Dead.  Known for long, extended improvisations.  Strong foundation in American roots styles - blues, country, and jazz. An incredibly passionate and creative musician, and a virtual walking encyclopedia of American music. 

Here are some descriptions of Garcia’s playing by others:

The essence of Garcia's sound came in the way he attacked the notes with his pick.

Jerry could weave colorful passing tones into his lines like no other rocker. 

He had a clear, “well-spoken” tone and a strong and precise connection to the string.

Garcia picked almost every note and seldom used hammer-ons or pull-offs. 

Bill Frisell

Thirdly is Bill Frisell.  I’m so glad that Paul included him on his list.  About Frisell, Paul says:

Bill Frisell is a great player who is difficult to categorize.  Usually categorized as a jazz player, he really blends a strong helping of country/folk/bluegrass in his music.  Known for his restraint and use of space.  I once heard someone say that he plays guitar the way Miles Davis played the trumpet.  One of my favorite players, period.

In a recent article for No Depression, Jake Schepps described Frisell like this:

Frisell is so distinctly American, creating music that is at once jazz, country, blues, and noise.  His music is unique, yet incredibly familiar, and at times sweetly dissonant (like no one else can be).  It has me questioning so many musical preconceptions about how music can work, what makes something compelling, what can be a song, what is soloing, and more. 

With Frisell’s approach to music, when playing folk tunes, Bob Dylan songs, original country twang ditties, and old swing standards the beauty is so pronounced, so touching, melodic, at times so directionless yet with such inevitable and perfect forward movement.  It is jazz, and so “not jazz” (which is actually very jazz).

Norman Blake

Surprisingly absent from Paul Murin’s list is Norman Blake, although to his credit Paul didn’t entirely omit all flatpickers, but chose to list David Grier, Tony Rice and Doc Watson among his favorites in that style.  However, I’d put Norman Blake up there as well.

Others have described Norman Blake like this:  His melodic lines are direct and elegant, without the pyrotechnics often associated other flatpickers.  Blake’s music has an air of authenticity and basic honesty few can achieve.  Blake’s music is of an elemental sort that transcends technological change and the tides of pop culture.  Blake’s music takes you back home to the porch and the living room, where, symbolically and literally, it was born.

Norman is not the fastest flatpicker in the world - but he brings the wood of the acoustic guitar to life. He doesn't play very much beyond the first five frets of the instrument, but that is why he makes one acoustic guitar sound like an ensemble!  The drone of the open strings picked here and there provides an anchor for the tune he picks, so that one acoustic guitar, without any backup, is complete in and of itself.  His crosspicking techniques add to the fullness as well.  (The Flatpick Post)

Grant Green

Lastly, but also missing from Paul’s list is Grant Green, a perpetually underrated jazz guitarist who recorded prolifically for the Blue Note Label throughout the 60’s and early 70’s. 

Grant Green had a "dark-blue", instantly recognizable sound that was influenced by horn players.  He rarely comped, choosing to drop out when trading off with other soloists rather than doing any backing.  When asked why he didn’t play chords Green is said to have responded “Charlie Parker didn’t play chords”.

Jazz Times described Green like this: 

Grant Green was among the most disciplined yet imaginative soloists of his generation.  His single-line statements were rhythmically brilliant, and his use of staccato notes equally intriguing.  Green’s earthy melodies were clean and fluid, his voicings impeccable and he was especially captivating on ballads.  Though his initial fame came through his participation in soul-jazz and organ-combo sessions, Green eschewed blazing speed and notey forays for deft harmonic response, funky rhythmic dexterity and nimble melodic interpretation.