Greenwich Mean is a landmark independent album by virtuosic American fusion guitarist Wayne Krantz, originally self-released in 1999. Captured as a document of visceral, highly improvisational musical chemistry, the album stands as a defining artifact of Krantz’s legendary weekly residencies at New York City’s famed 55 Bar in Greenwich Village.
Background and Concept
Throughout the 1990s, Wayne Krantz shifted away from conventional jazz-fusion structures to pioneer a hyper-interactive, groove-heavy trio format. Greenwich Mean serves as an audio snapshot of this laboratory-like environment. Rather than presenting a sequence of polished, traditional song structures, the record compiles tightly woven, spontaneous segments and exploratory cuts recorded live and in-studio during his extended stands in downtown Manhattan.
The album’s title plays cleverly on both his geographical anchor—Greenwich Village—and a twisted sense of timing, groove, and measurement.
The Players
The brilliance of Greenwich Mean relies heavily on the telepathic interplay between Krantz and his rhythm section collaborators. The tracks feature world-class groove architects:
- Wayne Krantz – Guitars, composition, and production
- Keith Carlock – Drums (whose pocket-heavy, intricate, and explosive drumming became a staple of Krantz’s sound)
- Tim Lefebvre – Bass
- Will Lee – Bass
The rhythm section locks into relentless funk, rock, and jazz-inflected vamps, allowing Krantz to weave angular, deconstructed guitar lines, micro-intervallic phrasing, and sophisticated chord fragments over top.
Track Structure and Style
Clocking in with a sprawling tracklist (often featuring upwards of 20 concise, punchy, or transitioning pieces like “Infinity Split,” “Harum-Scarum,” the title track “Greenwich Mean,” and “Marble Maker”), the album avoids over-embellished self-indulgence. Instead, it moves with a breathless urgency.
- The Groove: At its core, the music is built on deep funk and pocket grooves, but filtered through an avant-garde jazz lens.
- The Guitar Work: Krantz utilizes unique voicings, rhythmic displacement, and an aggressive, clean-to-edge-of-breakup tone that avoids standard blues-rock clichés.
- The Interaction: Rather than a soloist backed by a rhythm section, the trio operates as a single organism where bass and drums constantly shift the gravitational pull of the harmony.
Legacy
Greenwich Mean cemented Wayne Krantz’s status as a “guitarist’s guitarist”—an artist willing to tear up the rulebook of traditional jazz improvisation in favor of raw risk-taking. It paved the way for subsequent masterclasses in trio synergy, most notably his later critically acclaimed releases like Krantz Carlock Lefebvre. For fans of progressive fusion, groove-jazz, and master-level improvisation, Greenwich Mean remains an essential, cult-classic listen.
Wayne Krantz with Tim Lefebvre and Keith Carlock – Live Performance
This live footage captures the exact explosive chemistry, tight pocket drumming, and telepathic improvisational language that defined the era of Greenwich Mean.
Leave a Reply