Green Street LP

Grant Green cut Green Street in April 1961, his third album as a leader, and when it came out that October on Blue Note he'd ditched the piano entirely, working with just bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Dave Bailey behind him. That left his clean, bop-rooted lines completely exposed, with nothing to lean on for harmonic padding. The set pairs a reading of Thelonious Monk's "Round About Midnight" with Green's own compositions, stripped down enough that every note has to count.