Remembering Benny Golson
January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024
The tenor-saxophonist and arranger-composer is remembered
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Benny Golson passed away on Sept. 20, 2024 at the age of 95.
He was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 25, 1929, starting on the piano when he was nine and switching to tenor at 14.
Golson graduated from Howard University and had his first major job in the early 1950s with the r&b group of Bull Moose Jackson; Tadd Dameron (who played piano with Jackson) became a strong influence on his writing.
He made his recording debut in 1950 with altoist Jimmy Preston and was on a few sessions with guitarist Tiny Grimes but his first significant recordings were with the Tadd Dameron’s group in 1953 that included Clifford Brown.
However Golson, who also worked with Lionel Hampton and Earl Bostic, was first noticed, particularly as a songwriter, when he worked with the Dizzy Gillespie big band during 1956-57.
“Stablemates,” which was performed by the Miles Davis Quintet in 1956, was Golson’s first song to be recorded
After Clifford Brown’s death in a car accident in 1956, Golson wrote the moving “I Remember Clifford.”
Benny Golson began to record regularly from late-1956 on and during 1958 he was not only a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers but he was a major help in Blakey establishing the group, persuading the drummer to hire trumpeter Lee Morgan and pianist Bobby Timmons, and contributing a large portion of his repertoire including “Moanin’,” “Blues March,” “Along Came Betty,” and “Whisper Not.”
During 1959-62, Golson and trumpeter Art Farmer co-led the Jazztet, a top-notch hard bop group that introduced “Killer Joe.”
A very skilled songwriter who married together memorable melodies with chord changes that challenged jazz musicians, Golson also composed “Are You Real,” “Just By Myself,” “Blues After Dark,” “Step Lightly,” and “Five Spot After Dark” among others.
An excellent tenor-saxophonist whose sound had similarities to that of Don Byas and Lucky Thompson, Golson de-emphasized his playing in favor of mostly working as an arranger and composer during 1963-76; he wrote for occasional jazz dates but was mostly involved in studio work and contributing arrangements for television shows.
That changed in 1977 when Golson returned to active playing and touring, displaying a slightly different tone that owed more to Archie Shepp than Don Byas.
He had reunions with Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller (including in a reformed version of the Jazztet) and Art Blakey, made a surprise appearance in the 2004 Tom Hanks movie The Terminal, inspired much younger generations of jazz artists, penned his memoirs (he was a colorful storyteller), made his final recordings in 2019, and stayed active until shortly before his passing.
Here is the great Benny Golson playing his “Whisper Not” in 1987 in a group with flugelhornist Freddie Hubbard, pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Marvin “Smitty” Smith.
-Scott Yanow
