Jazz Articles about Johnny Griffin

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Johnny Griffin: Live At Ronnie Scott's

by Dan Bilawsky
July 7, 2010

Live At Ronnie Scott's is likely to draw in a lot of jazz listeners for two reasons. First, this album was the final recording that the late Johnny Griffin--known as a saxophone speed demon--made as a leader. While other unreleased material might make its way to the market at a later date, this is Grffin's last “authorized and artist-approved" release. The second draw has to do with his inter-generational band, featuring multiple marquee names like drummer Billy ...

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Johnny Griffin: From Johnny Griffin With Love

by Greg Thomas
September 9, 2009

Johnny Griffin From Johnny Griffin With Love Storyville Records 2009

Chicago native Johnny Griffin was undoubtedly one of the greatest artists to ever play the tenor saxophone. His technical capacity at high velocity tempi was legendary, earning him the nicknames “fastest gun in the West" and “Little Giant." Not mere empty displays, Griffin's virtuosity served his expressive needs. As Frank Foster has written: “His blazing speed in producing one dynamite ...

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Johnny Griffin: The Best Of Johnny Griffin

by Martin Gladu
July 4, 2009

If big things often come in small packages, then Johnny Griffin's case as one of the music's top “tough tenors" really need not be plead. Affectionately nicknamed “Lil' Giant" for his diminutive stature, the late saxophonist was all but diminutive came time to rip through changes and defend his title--as would a proud, prized champion--as the fastest saxophonist roaming the nightclub circuit.

An explosive soloist indeed reputed for his incendiary chops and hearty tone, many often overlook the ...

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Johnny Griffin: The Congregation

by Samuel Chell
April 18, 2007

A highly regarded recording in the impressive discography of Johnny Griffin, this recently remastered RVG edition of The Congregation is more likely to appeal to the faithful than win many new converts. On this 1957 session, the “world's fastest tenor sets aside his gun-slinging ways in favor of comparatively restrained, straightforward preaching, consisting of some basic, rather predictable harmonic-rhythmic rhetoric and, of course, that distinctive sound.

Griffin's ample and slow Leslie-like vibrato is somewhat reminiscent of ...

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Bush Dance & Pisces

by Russ Musto
June 6, 2005

These two new discs present three excellent Griffin sessions, one each from the '60's, '70s and '80s, documenting various aspects of his mastery of the tenor saxophone and the jazz idiom in remarkably diverse settings. Bush Dance combines a 1978 all-star date featuring the stellar rhythm section of pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Albert “Tootie Heath plus percussionist Kenneth Nash and special guest guitarist George Freeman, from which the disc takes its title, along with 1983's Call ...

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Johnny Griffin & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis: Pisces

by Derek Taylor
November 14, 2004

The early '60s was a golden age for tenor tandems. Towering team-ups like Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, and Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin were illustrative of the Zeitgeist. Such a simple formula, joining the talents of two titans on that most popular of jazz horns, but it's one that consistently yielded both artistic and financial profit. For a time the partnership of Davis and Griffin stood at the front of the pack.

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Johnny Griffin: Johnny Griffin

by David Rickert
September 15, 2004

Johnny Griffin was a bop-influenced player who was capable of handling the rigors of both Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and a stint with Thelonious Monk. Often given credit as the world's fastest tenor player (at least for a time), Griffin enjoyed a good tenor battle as much as the next guy, but he also could deliver a solid quartet album such as this one.1956's Johnny Griffin is pretty typical mid-fifties fare: a few standards, a couple of originals, ...