Turning Point (Benny Golson album)

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Turning Point
Turning Point (Benny Golson album).jpg
Studio album by Benny Golson
Released1962
RecordedOctober 30 & 31 and November 1, 1962
New York City
Genre Jazz
Length34:07
Label Mercury
MG 20801
Producer Kay Norton
Benny Golson chronology
Another Git Together
(1962)		Turning Point
(1962)		 Free
(1962)

Turning Point is an album by saxophonist Benny Golson, featuring performances recorded in late 1962 and originally released on the Mercury label. [1]

Benny Golson American musician

Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. 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 reformed the Jazztet in 1982. Several of Golson's songs have become jazz standards, including "Blues March", "Whisper Not", "I Remember Clifford", and "Killer Joe".

Mercury Records record label

Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. In the United States, it operates through Island Records; in the UK, it is distributed by Virgin EMI Records.

Contents

Background

This was the first of a pair of quartet recordings by Golson in two months. [2] Golson was displeased with his playing at the time: "I was frustrated, because I didn't know how I wanted to sound"; he soon stopped playing, and did not resume for seven or eight years. [2] The title, according to Golson, "indicates my frustration with [producer] Kay Norton and Art [Farmer, co-leader of the Jazztet], because we had reached a point where we wanted to go in different directions." [2]

Art Farmer American jazz trumpeter

Arthur Stewart Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, double bassist Addison Farmer, started playing professionally while in high school. Art gained greater attention after the release of a recording of his composition "Farmer's Market" in 1952. He subsequently moved from Los Angeles to New York, where he performed and recorded with musicians such as Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, and Gigi Gryce and became known principally as a bebop player.

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.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Down Beat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

The Allmusic review states, "this quartet set for tenor saxophonist Benny Golson was the beginning of the close of an era. Within a year, Golson would be working full-time as a writer in the studios, and he de-emphasized his playing until making a comeback in the late 1970s". [3]

Track listing

All compositions by Benny Golson except as indicated

  1. "How Am I to Know" (Dorothy Parker, Jack King) - 3:47
  2. The Masquerade Is Over"" (Herbert Magidson, Allie Wrubel) - 4:38
  3. "Dear Kathy" - 4:48
  4. "Three Little Words" (Harry Ruby, Bert Kalmar) - 4:38
  5. "Turning Point" - 3:56
  6. "Stella by Starlight" (Victor Young, Ned Washington) - 4:50
  7. "Alone Together" (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz) - 7:30

Personnel

Tenor saxophone type of saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B♭ (while the Alto is pitched in the key of E♭), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F♯ key have a range from A♭2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists".

Wynton Kelly American jazz pianist

Wynton Charles Kelly was a Jamaican American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of 12, and was pianist on a No. 1 R&B hit at the age of 16. His recording debut as leader occurred three years later, around the time he started to become better known as accompanist to singer Dinah Washington, and as a member of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's band. This progress was interrupted by two years in the United States Army, after which Kelly returned to Washington and Gillespie, and played with other leaders. Over the next few years, these included instrumentalists Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, John Coltrane, Roland Kirk, Wes Montgomery, and Sonny Rollins, and vocalists Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, and Abbey Lincoln.

Piano musical instrument

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.

Related Research Articles

"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.

<i>Big 6</i> (album) album by Blue Mitchell

Big 6 is the debut album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell recorded in 1958 and released on the Riverside label. It contains the first recording of Benny Golson's jazz standard "Blues March".

<i>Meet the Jazztet</i> 1960 studio album by Art Farmer and Benny Golson

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.

<i>Big City Sounds</i> album by Art Farmer

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.

<i>The Jazztet and John Lewis</i> album by Art Farmer, John Lewis, Benny Golson

The Jazztet and John Lewis is an album by the Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson and featuring performances composed and arranged by John Lewis. It was recorded in late 1960 and early 1961 and originally released on the Argo label.

<i>Take a Number from 1 to 10</i> album by Benny Golson

Take a Number from 1 to 10 is an album by saxophonist Benny Golson, featuring performances recorded in late 1960 and early 1961 and originally released on the Argo label.

<i>The Jazztet at Birdhouse</i> 1961 live album by Art Farmer

The Jazztet at Birdhouse is a live album by the Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson. It features performances recorded in Chicago in 1961 and was originally released on the Argo label.

<i>Here and Now</i> (The Jazztet album) album by Art Farmer

Here and Now is an album by the Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson. It features performances recorded in 1962 and was originally released on the Mercury label.

<i>Art</i> (Art Farmer album) 1961 studio album by Art Farmer

Art is an album by trumpeter Art Farmer, featuring performances recorded in 1960 and originally released on the Argo label. Farmer stated in 1995 that the album, which consists mainly of ballads, was his favorite.

<i>Another Git Together</i> 1962 studio album by Art Farmer and Benny Golson

Another Git Together is an album by the Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson. It features performances recorded in 1962 and originally released on the Mercury label. It was the band's last recording for 20 years.

<i>Perception</i> (Art Farmer album) Art Farmer album

Perception is an album by flugelhorn player Art Farmer's Quartet, featuring performances recorded in 1961 and originally released on the Argo label.

<i>Benny Golsons New York Scene</i> 1959 studio album by Benny Golson

Benny Golson's New York Scene is the debut album by saxophonist Benny Golson featuring performances recorded in late 1957 and originally released on the Contemporary label.

<i>The Other Side of Benny Golson</i> album by Benny Golson

The Other Side of Benny Golson is the third album by saxophonist Benny Golson featuring performances recorded in late 1958 and originally released on the Riverside label.

<i>Free</i> (Benny Golson album) Benny Golson album

Free is an album by saxophonist Benny Golson recorded in late 1962 and originally released on the Argo label.

<i>The Curtis Fuller Jazztet</i> album by Curtis Fuller

The Curtis Fuller Jazztet is an album by American trombonist Curtis Fuller with saxophonist Benny Golson recorded in 1959 and released on the Savoy label.

<i>Moment to Moment</i> (album) 1983 studio album by The Jazztet

Moment to Moment is an album by Art Farmer and Benny Golson's group, The Jazztet recorded in Italy in 1983 and originally released on the Soul Note label.

<i>Voices All</i> album by The Jazztet

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.

References

  1. ↑ Benny Golson discography accessed June 27, 2012
  2. 1 2 3 Blumenthal, Bob (2004) In The Complete Argo/Mercury Art Farmer/Benny Golson/Jazztet Sessions [CD liner notes]. p. 14. Mosaic.
  3. 1 2 Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed June 27, 2012
  4. ↑ Down Beat: August 15, 1963 vol. 30, no. 23
  5. ↑ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 85. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
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