Johnny Griffin
Tenor Sax Solo on
Evidence

About

Johnny Griffin's tenor saxophone solo is the first of three improvisations on this live performance of Monk's contrafact based on the chord changes of "Just You, Just Me." Taking six choruses of the 32-bar AABA form in E-flat at 189 BPM, Griffin opens with quicksilver lines that navigate the harmony with breathtaking speed and invention. Griffin quotes "Skip to My Lou" in the first eight bars of his fourth chorus starting at 2:55, one of the playful melodic references that enliven his extended solo.

Johnny Griffin was 29 to 30 years old at the time.