Benny Golson

Benny Golson - The Athens Sessions (2000) {Reissue 2008 El Capitan 2201556062}
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© 2000, 2008 El Capitan / Legend | 2201556062
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post-Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

Born on 25 January 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA), Benny Golson was introduced to music's various facets as a child. His trajectory as a professional tenor saxophone player was initiated in 1951 when he joined Bull Moose Jackson's R&B band. His acquaintance with Tadd Dameron at that time was to be of major influence on his future musical writing. The mid-fifties found Benny Colson playing in bands led by Dameron, Lionel Hampton, as well as in the midst of a cooperation with Dizzy Gillespie, playing in and arranging for the 1956-1958 big band. His next step was to become a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and to compose several tunes for the band.

Benny Golson - New Time, New 'Tet (2009) {Concord Music Group 0888072311213}
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© 2009 Concord Music Group | 0888072311213
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post-Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

At age eighty, tenor saxophonist, composer and band leader Benny Golson is still going strong, and although he experienced a few lean years, is very much a force on the modern mainstream jazz scene in the years of the 2000s. He has revived the spirit of his original Jazztet, co-founded with the late trumpeter Art Farmer, on several occasions since the ensemble was originally founded in 1959. This edition features a strong front line of Golson, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, and trombonist Steve Davis, players from different generations who completely understand the hard and post-bop language. The rhythm section is even more delicious, with pianist Mike LeDonne, peerless bassist Buster Williams, and younger drummer Carl Allen working together in the best sense of that ideal.

Recorded in the New York City, November 1957.
Benny Golson is a talented composer/arranger whose tenor playing has continued to evolve with time. After attending Howard University (1947-50) he worked in Philadelphia with Bull Moose Jackson's R&B band (1951) at a time when it included one of his writing influences, Tadd Dameron on piano. Golson played with Dameron for a period in 1953 and this was followed by stints with Lionel Hampton (1953-54), Johnny Hodges and Earl Bostic (1954-56). He came to prominence while with Dizzy Gillespie's globetrotting big band (1956-58), as much for his writing as for his tenor playing (the latter was most influenced by Don Byas and Lucky Thompson)…

Benny Golson - Up, Jumped, Spring (1990) {Lester Recording Catalog 20040 rel 2002}
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© 1990, 2002 Lester Recording Catalog | 20040
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Saxophone

Beautiful work from the always-great Benny Golson – a wonderfully understated quartet session that's filled with plenty of long tracks, and sublime solo work from Golson! Benny's performed in many settings over the years – all of which are great – but we're recently quite partial to his more relaxed and open sessions from this period – dates like this which show a newly reborn focus on the sound of his horn and his ability to improvised creatively over an extended period of time. There's a definite Dexter Gordon influence to the impulse – but Benny serves up the music with a fair bit more soul and lyrical imagination – working here with a group that includes Mulgrew Miller on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Tony Reedus on drums.

One of the top hard bop contingents of the '50s and '60s, the Art Farmer and Benny Golson co-led group known as the Jazztet featured some of the best original charts and soloing of the entire era. While the group was only in existence between 1959-1962, its excellent reputation could rest on this stunning disc alone. Cut in 1960, the ten-track date features four of Golson's classic originals ("I Remember Clifford," "Blues March," "Park Avenue Petite," and "Killer Joe") and one very fetching Farmer-penned cut ("Mox Nix"). The rest of the standards-heavy mix is given the golden touch by the sextet. And what a combo this is – besides Farmer's svelte trumpet lines and Golson's frenetically vaporous tenor solos, one gets a chance to hear a young but already very accomplished McCoy Tyner, the tart and mercurial trombonist Curtis Fuller, and the streamlined rhythm tandem of Addison Farmer and Lex Humphries. An essential hard bop title.

Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet - Here and Now + Another Git Together (1962) {2012 Mercury Remaster, Jazzplus Series}
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© 2012 Mercury / Universal | 06007 5340166
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone / Trumpet

Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet was a talent-studded little band, among the finest groups of its time (1959-1962), able and willing to try anything—notice the sextet’s exuberant romping on these two albums “Here and Now,” and “Another Git Together”—recorded in 1962. They feature only the co-leaders of the original band, but the replacements—trombonist Grachan Moncur III and a Harold Mabern Herbie Lewis—Roy McCurdy rhythm section—maintained the pungent blend of zest, relaxation, control and creativity that characterised the Jazztet at its best.