“Grantstand” by Grant Green

This was the first track off the first jazz guitar album I ever bought and it’s a real belter! I’ve since listened to lots of Grant Greens music but I can find no other solo he ever did which lays out his vision so perfectly.
Grant sounded like he worked so hard at playing and it really comes across in this solo, he has some great phrases which almost sound humorous in the execution!
Grant was the house guitarist at Blue Note for many years and the influence of all the horn players really comes across in his playing – you’ll notice he pretty much never uses chords in his solos. He had a great soulful blues feel that went through everything he did and a directness and non subtle approach which is infectious.

Theory
This is one of the first ‘minor conversion’ tunes I was aware of as Grant plays everything (except the turnaround) as a minor. He substitutes playing on the F9 with Cm and Gm arpeggio ideas which sounds great and unexpected for an opening chord idea. The following chords Bbm+Abm he plays licks directly related to the key of the chord as well as Fm arp over the Bbm and Ebm arps over the Abm7.
Grant seems to be mainly treating each change as it comes except for the turnaround phrase which he emphasizes the F sharp and brings in diminished fragments over the D7 chord. He also plays a hip E Dom7/mixolydian sound over the final (expected) C7, this is a sidestepping trick which brings you into the following F9 starting chord and sounds modern.
Grant sounds so strong in the upper register and stays there for most of the solo, maybe an influence of the many horn players he worked with?
Groove on!