“… a composer with an unusually brilliant melodic sense.” –John S. Wilson, New York Times  Benny Golson © Andrea Canter A native of Philadelphia, Golson studied piano, organ, clarinet, and tenor sax as a child. In an All About Jazz interview, Golson recalled, “I started out wanting to be a pianist and as I got into it I fancied that I wanted to be a concert pianist. That got a few chuckles in the ghetto, you know. But at 14, I heard the saxophone and my first influence was Arnett Cobb. I went to the theatre one day and I heard him play “Flying Home” and that changed my life. Then after that, of course, it was Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, and then John Coltrane and I went through the ranks together.” With fellow Philly native Coltrane, Golson played weekends with a local band (“Jimmy Johnson and His Ambassadors”) while still in high school, earning eight dollars per performance.
After attending Howard University in the late 1940s, Golson worked in Bull Moose Jackson's band. He then played with Tadd Dameron, an affiliation that would have considerable impact on Golson’s approach to composition (“I was amazed at what he could do with a small number of instruments...”). After working with Lionel Hampton (1953) and Earl Bostic (1954-56), Golson joined Dizzy Gillespie’s band, building his reputation with his compositions "Stablemates," "Whisper Not," and "I Remember Clifford,” the first of many that became jazz standards. With Gillespie, Golson also developed a solo style inspired by Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins.  Benny Golson © Andrea Canter Now 78, Golson is hardly taking it easy, having completed a commissioned “Three Piano Composition” for Chicago’s 2004 Ravinia Festival and an orchestral work for the 100th Anniversary of the Julliard School of Music. His most recent release, Terminal 1 (Concord, 2004), was noted to be as “expressive and buoyant as anything Golson was doing with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers’ lineup fifty years ago” (E.J. Iannelli, All About Jazz), and featured Mike LaDonne (p), Carl Allen (d), and Buster Williams (b), as well as trumpeter and frequent collaborator, Eddie Henderson. Notes Bob McCullough of the Boston Globe, "Virtually every solo by Golson is a textbook tour de force.” Recently Golson has been touring Europe with the Lynne Arriale Trio (with plans for a recording session next summer). In October 2007, he received the Mellon Living Legend Legacy Award presented by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation at a ceremony at the Kennedy Center. This fall he also received the University of Pittsburgh International Academy of Jazz Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award. The sax giant appears at Los Angeles' Jazz Bakery November 14-18; reservation line: 310-271-9039. The Jazz Bakery is located at 3233 Helms Avenue; www.jazzbakery.com |
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Tuesday, 07 October 2008
