Biography

While in high school in Philadelphia, Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and Red Rodney. After graduating from Howard University, Golson joined Bull Moose Jackson's rhythm and blues band; Tadd Dameron, whom Golson came to consider the most important influence on his writing, was Jackson's pianist at the time.

From 1953 to 1959 Golson played with Dameron's band and then with the bands of Lionel Hampton, Johnny Hodges, Earl Bostic, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with whom he recorded the classic Moanin' in 1958.

Golson was working with the Lionel Hampton band at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1956 when he learned that Clifford Brown, a noted and well-liked jazz trumpeter who had done a stint with him in Dameron's band, had died in a car accident. Golson was so moved by the event that he composed the threnody "I Remember Clifford", as a tribute to a fellow musician and friend.

In addition to "I Remember Clifford," many of Golson's compositions have become jazz standards. Songs such as "Stablemates," "Killer Joe," "Whisper Not," "Along Came Betty," and "Are You Real?" have been performed and recorded numerous times by many musicians.

From 1959 to 1962 Golson co-led the Jazztet with Art Farmer. Golson then left jazz to concentrate on studio and orchestral work for 12 years. During this time he composed music for such television shows as Ironside, Room 222, M*A*S*H, The Partridge Family and Mission: Impossible. During the mid-1970s Golson returned to jazz playing and recording. In 1982 he re-organized the Jazztet.

In 1995 Golson received the NEA Jazz Masters Award of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Golson made a cameo appearance in the 2004 movie The Terminal, related to his appearance in the A Great Day in Harlem photo; as of 2015, he is one of only two surviving musicians from the photo (the other being Sonny Rollins). His song "Something in b Flat" (from the album "Benny Golson's New York scene") can actually be heard in one of the scenes of the movie (while character Viktor Navorski is painting and redecorating part of the terminal). As of 2007, he tours regularly.

In October 2007 Golson received the Mellon Living Legend Legacy Award presented by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation at a ceremony at the Kennedy Center. Additionally, during the same month, he won the University of Pittsburgh International Academy of Jazz Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award at the university's 37th Annual Jazz Concert in the Carnegie Music Hall.

In November 2009, Benny was inducted into the International Academy of Jazz Hall of Fame during a performance at the University of Pittsburgh's annual jazz seminar and concert.

The Howard University Jazz Studies program created a prestigious award in his honor called the "Benny Golson Jazz Master Award" in 1996. Several distinguished jazz artists have received this award.

Notable compositions

• "Whisper Not", 1956
• "I Remember Clifford", 1957
• "Blues March", 1958
• "Along Came Betty",1958
• "Killer Joe", 1960

Gallery

Discography

As leader

• Benny Golson's New York Scene (Contemporary, 1957)
• The Modern Touch (Riverside, 1957)
• The Other Side of Benny Golson (Riverside, 1958)
• Benny Golson and the Philadelphians (United Artists, 1958)
• Gone with Golson (New Jazz, 1959)
• Groovin' with Golson (New Jazz, 1959)
• Gettin' with It (New Jazz, 1959)
• Winchester Special (New Jazz, 1959) - with Lem Winchester
• Take a Number from 1 to 10 (Argo, 1961)
• Pop + Jazz = Swing (Audio Fidelity, 1962; reissued with Just Jazz!)
• Just Jazz! (Audio Fidelity, 1962)
• Turning Point (Mercury, 1962)
• Free (Argo, 1962)
• Stockholm Sojourn (Prestige, 1964)
• Tune In, Turn On (Verve, 1967)
• Are You Real (CBS/Sony, 1977)
• Killer Joe (Columbia, 1977)
• I'm Always Dancin' to the Music (Columbia, 1978)
• California Message (Baystate, 1980)
• One More Mem'ry (Baystate, 1981)
• This Is for You, John (Timeless, 1987)
• Up, Jumped Spring (LRC Ltd., 1990)
• Up Jumped Benny (Arkadia Jazz, 1997)
• That's Funky (Arkadia Jazz, 2000)
• One Day Forever (Arkadia Jazz, 2001)
• Terminal 1 (Concord, 2004)
• The Masquerade Is Over (Azzurra Music, 2005)
• The Many Moods of Benny Golson (Arkadia Jazz, 2007)
• Three Little Words (Synergie OMG, 2007)
• New Time, New 'Tet (Concord, 2009)

With the Jazztet

• Meet the Jazztet (Argo, 1960)
• Big City Sounds (Argo, 1960)
• The Jazztet and John Lewis (Argo, 1961)
• The Jazztet at Birdhouse (Argo, 1961)
• Here and Now (Mercury, 1962)
• Another Git Together (Mercury, 1962)
• Voices All (East West, 1982)
• Playboy Jazz Festival (Elektra/Musician, 1982)
• Moment to Moment (Soul Note, 1983)
• Nostalgia (Baystate, 1983)
• Back to the City (Contemporary, 1986)
• Real Time (Contemporary, 1986)

As arranger

With Kenny Burrell

• Both Feet on the Ground (Fantasy, 1973)

With Jimmy Cleveland

• Rhythm Crazy (EmArcy, 1959 ) and performer

With Art Farmer

• Brass Shout (United Artists, 1959)
• Baroque Sketches (Columbia, 1967)

With Curtis Fuller

• Sliding Easy (United Artists, 1959)

With Red Holloway

• Sax, Strings & Soul (Prestige, 1964)

With Roland Kirk

• The Roland Kirk Quartet Meets the Benny Golson Orchestra (Mercury, 1963)

With Illinois Jacquet

• Bosses of the Ballad (Argo, 1964)

With Jack McDuff

• Prelude (Prestige, 1963)
• The Dynamic Jack McDuff (Prestige, 1964)
• Walk On By (Prestige, 1966)
• The Midnight Sun (Prestige, 1964-66 )
• Steppin' Out (Prestige, 1961-66 )

With Freda Payne

• How Do You Say I Don't Love You Anymore (MGM, 1966)

With Sahib Shihab

• Jazz Sahib (Savoy, 1957)

With Jimmy Witherspoon

• Some of My Best Friends Are the Blues (Prestige, 1964)

As sideman

With Art Blakey

• Moanin' (Blue Note, 1958)
• 1958 - Paris Olympia (Fontana, 1958)
• Des Femmes Disparaissent (Soundtrack) (Fontana, 1958)

With Jimmy Cleveland

• Cleveland Style (EmArcy, 1958)

With Cass Elliot

• Cass Elliot (RCA 1971)

With Art Farmer

• Modern Art (United Artists, 1958)

With Curtis Fuller

• Blues-ette (Savoy, 1959)
• The Curtis Fuller Jazztet (Savoy, 1959)
• Imagination (Savoy, 1959)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Dizzy in Greece (Verve, 1957)
• Birks' Works (Verve, 1957)
• Dizzy Gillespie at Newport (Verve, 1957)
• The Greatest Trumpet of Them All (Verve, 1957)
• Bird Songs: The Final Recordings (Telarc, 1992)
• To Bird with Love (Telarc, 1992)

With Ernie Henry

• Last Chorus (Riverside, 1956-57)

With Milt Jackson

• Bags' Opus (United Artists, 1958)

With Philly Joe Jones

• Drums Around the World (Riverside, 1959)

With Quincy Jones

• The Birth of a Band! (Mercury, 1959)

With John Lewis

• The Wonderful World of Jazz (Atlantic, 1960)
• Essence (Atlantic, 1962)

With Abbey Lincoln

• It's Magic (Riverside, 1958)

With Blue Mitchell

• Out of the Blue (1959)

With Lee Morgan

• Lee Morgan Vol. 3 (Blue Note, 1957)

With Oscar Pettiford

• The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi Volume Two (ABC-Paramount, 1957) - also composer and arranger

With Arkadia Jazz All Stars

• Thank You, Duke!

With Sarah Vaughan

• Sassy Swings Again (1967)

With Meeco

• Beauty of the Night (Connector, 2012)

With Gail Davies

• Since I Don't Have You (Little Chickadee, 2014)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]