Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929)[1] is an American bebop/hard bopjazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.[2] He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launching his solo career. Golson is known for co-founding and co-leading The Jazztet with trumpeter Art Farmer in 1959. From the late 1960s through the 1970s Golson was in demand as an arranger for film and television and thus was less active as a performer, but he and Farmer re-formed the Jazztet in 1982.[3]
Golson was working with the Lionel Hampton band at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1956 when he learned that Clifford Brown, a noted and well-liked jazz trumpeter who had done a stint with him in Dameron's band,[8] had died in a car accident. Golson was so moved by the event that he composed the threnody "I Remember Clifford", as a tribute to a fellow musician and friend.
In addition to "I Remember Clifford", many of Golson's other compositions have become jazz standards. Songs such as "Stablemates", "Killer Joe", "Whisper Not", "Along Came Betty", and "Are You Real?", have been performed and recorded numerous times by many musicians.[9]
From 1959 to 1962, Golson co-led the Jazztet with Art Farmer,[1] mainly playing his own compositions.[10] Golson then left jazz to concentrate on studio and orchestral work for 12 years.[1] During this time he composed music for such television shows as Mannix, Ironside, Room 222, M*A*S*H, The Partridge Family and Mission: Impossible. He also formulated and conducted arrangements to various recordings, such as Eric Is Here, a 1967 album by Eric Burdon, which features five of Golson's arrangements, conducted by Golson.[11]
During the mid-1970s, Golson returned to jazz playing and recording. Critic Scott Yanow of AllMusic wrote that Golson's sax style underwent a major shift with his performing comeback, more resembling avant-garde Archie Shepp than the swing-era Don Byas influence of Golson's youth.[12] In 1982, Golson re-organized the Jazztet.[13]
Golson played a cameo role in the 2004 movie The Terminal, related to his appearance in "A Great Day in Harlem", a group photograph of prominent jazz musicians taken in 1958.[14] Main character Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) travels to the US from Europe to obtain Golson's signature; Golson was one of seven musicians then surviving from the photo, the others being Johnny Griffin (died 2008), Eddie Locke (died 2009), Hank Jones (died 2010), Marian McPartland (died 2013), Horace Silver (died 2014), and Sonny Rollins. Pianist Ray Bryant's song "Something in B-Flat," which was included on the Golson's debut album as a leader, Benny Golson's New York Scene, can be heard during a scene where Viktor is painting and redecorating part of an airport terminal; in a later scene, Golson's band performs "Killer Joe".[15] The album Terminal 1 was released by Golson shortly after the film, as a "homage to Steven Spielberg", its director.[16]
In October 2007, Golson received the Mellon Living Legend Legacy Award,[17] presented by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation at a ceremony at the Kennedy Center. Additionally, during the same month, he won the University of Pittsburgh International Academy of Jazz Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award at the university's 37th Annual Jazz Concert in the Carnegie Music Hall.[19]
In November 2009, Golson was inducted into the International Academy of Jazz Hall of Fame, during a performance at the University of Pittsburgh's annual jazz seminar and concert.[citation needed]
The Howard University Jazz Studies program created a prestigious award in his honor called the "Benny Golson Jazz Master Award" in 1996. Many distinguished jazz artists have received this award.[20]
Beliefs
In an interview with "Awake!" on October 08, 1980, Golson said that since the late 60s he had become a member of the religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses
Arthur Blakey was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s.
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Curtis DuBois Fuller was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributed to many classic jazz recordings.
"I Remember Clifford" is an instrumental jazz threnody written by jazz tenor saxophonist Benny Golson in memory of Clifford Brown, the influential and highly regarded jazz trumpeter who died in an auto accident at the age of 25. Brown and Golson had done a stint in Lionel Hampton's band together. The original recording was by Donald Byrd in January 1957.
Sahib Shihab was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Tadd Dameron, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, John Coltrane and Quincy Jones among others.
Roy McCurdy is a jazz drummer.
Charles Lawrence Persip, known as Charli Persip and formerly as Charlie Persip, was an American jazz drummer.
Thomas S. "Tom" McIntosh was an American jazz trombonist, composer, arranger, and conductor.
Birks' Works is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie recorded in 1957 and released on the Verve label. The original album featured 10 tracks and was reissued as Birks Works: The Verve Big Band Sessions, a 2 CD compilation featuring unreleased tracks, alternate takes and tracks from Gillespie's previous 1956 albums Dizzy in Greece and World Statesman.
Meet the Jazztet is an album by the Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson featuring performances recorded in 1960 and originally released on the Argo label.
Big City Sounds is an album by The Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson, featuring performances recorded in 1960 and originally released on the Argo label.
Benny Golson and the Philadelphians is an album by saxophonist Benny Golson which was recorded in November and December 1958. Originally released on the United Artists label, the album was re-issued in 1998 on the Blue Note label with four additional bonus tracks.
The Jazztet was a jazz sextet, co-founded in 1959 by trumpeter Art Farmer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, always featuring the founders along with a trombonist and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section. In its first phase, the Jazztet lasted until 1962, and helped to launch the careers of pianist McCoy Tyner and trombonist Grachan Moncur III. Farmer and Golson revived the group in 1982 and it again toured extensively. Each generation of the group recorded six albums, which were released on a variety of labels.
1958 – Paris Olympia is a live album by drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers recorded at L'Olympia in 1958 and originally released on the French Fontana label.
"Whisper Not" is a composition by Benny Golson. It is in a minor key and contains a shout chorus. Golson's account of writing the piece is that "I wrote it in Boston at George Wein's Storyville club when I was with Dizzy Gillespie's big band. I wrote that tune in 20 minutes." Some sources indicate that the first recording was by Gillespie, while others indicate that trumpeter Lee Morgan was first.
"Blues March" is a composition by Benny Golson. It was first recorded for Blue Mitchell's Riverside album Big 6 on July 2 and 3, 1958, and has become a jazz standard.
Voices All is an album by Art Farmer and Benny Golson's group, The Jazztet recorded in Tokyo in 1983 and originally released on the Japanese Eastworld label.
This is the discography for American jazz musician Benny Golson.
California Message is an album by saxophonist/composer Benny Golson that was recorded in 1980 and released on the Japanese Baystate label the following year. The album features trombonist Curtis Fuller, Golsons colleague from The Jazztet who also played with The Jazz Messengers, and was reissued on the Dutch Timeless label in 1984.
Up Jumped Benny is a live album by saxophonist/composer Benny Golson that was recorded in 1996 and originally released by the Arkadia Jazz label.
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