Jazz Articles about Benny Golson

Golson and Trane Dissed in Philly (circa 1944)

by Bob Jacobson
January 30, 2015

This article was originally published at All About Jazz in 1999. John Coltrane and Benny Golson stand among the major figures of jazz in the second half of the twentieth century, Coltrane primarily as a player and Golson primarily as a composer. But in 1944 Philadelphia they were teenagers just getting their feet wet, learning tunes and jamming in the Golson living room (at this time Coltrane played alto in the style of Johnny Hodges). Benny was 15, ...

Burlington Discover Jazz Festival 2014

by Doug Collette
June 21, 2014

Burlington Vermont Discover Jazz Festival 2014Burlington, Vermont May 30-June 8, 2014 During Burlington Vermont's Discover Jazz Festival, Vermont's Queen City teems with a level of excitement and activity unusual even for its ceaselessly vibrant environs. And while the Mainstage of the Flynn Performing Arts Center functions as the center of that universe, it is often the case that those performances at the intimate FlynnSpace downstairs, as well as other venues around the city, imbed the most ...

Benny Golson: New Time, New 'Tet & The Best Of

by George Kanzler
February 7, 2009

The seductive charm that makes Benny Golson's “Whisper Not" so appealing has not diminished in half a century, as is evident when listening to the two performances found here, one recorded in 1956, the other just last year. The latter, with Al Jarreau singing the Leonard Feather lyrics with surprising sensitivity, comes from Golson's latest version of the sextet he originally formed with the late Art Farmer in 1959. The 1956 instrumental recording, by a nonet, is an opulent rendering ...

Benny Golson: Along Came Benny

by Greg Thomas
August 21, 2008

Benny Golson, tenor saxophone stylist and jazz composer of first rank, refuses to rest on his laurels. At almost 80, he's an elder statesman of jazz who could easily cruise and live off the royalties of “I Remember Clifford," “Whisper Not," “Along Came Betty" and others among his 300 compositions. But such a notion is anathema to him.“At this late date, I still find music to be an adventure. There are things that I haven't done yet. I ...

Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller at the Kennedy Center

by Erik R. Quick
March 25, 2007

Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller Jazz in Our Time Series The Kennedy Center, Millennium Stage Washington D. C. March 7, 2007The Washington, DC metropolitan area is a curious town for the avid jazz listener. Only one club attracts nationally known musicians on a nightly basis, and it has seemingly altered its booking policy to focus on more commercially viable acts that do not attract the “purist." As a result, some ...

Benny Golson

by Peter Madsen
May 30, 2006

You know it's easy to get overlooked in the jazz world today. There are too many musicians on the scene from all over the world. The market is flooded with more new CD's than we can really handle and every day there are dozens of classic reissues showing up to add to the competition. Often if a musician really has something to say musically they are ignored for not fitting in with the style of the day or possibly they're ...

Benny Golson: Terminal 1

by Aaron Rogers
July 17, 2004

Benny Golson's Terminal 1 is a commemorative album to Steven Spielberg's latest film, The Terminal, in which Golson plays himself: a legendary jazz saxophonist from whom Tom Hanks' character is trying to get an autograph.

On Terminal 1, 75-year-old hard-bopper Golson looks and plays just as fresh as he did in his younger days with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, where the saxophonist wrote one of the Messenger's most popular tunes, “Blues March." Golson's youthful and vigorous playing on ...