Benny Golson

[JSngry]

"Swing it up, it says yes"...that's about as jazz as it gets!

[medjuck]

13 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

I don't ever recall hearing Benny Golson in person unless it was at IAJE one year and I've forgotten. But I interviewed him for a Hot House article, he was very gracious and a fun subject. He is well represented in my collection.

i saw him with a local Montreal rhythm section in the early '60s.  Interestingly the rhythm section was guitar bass and drums: The Charlie Biddle Trio whom I also saw back Art Farmer and Jackie McLean. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by medjuck

[Teasing the Korean]

15 hours ago, JSngry said:

as with most cover versions, this is not as good as the original:

The original version doesn't have the killer bridge that Benny wrote, coming in the 59-second mark.

Also, the male singer on the original is not as good as the pretty ladies on the Golson.  

[Late]

From the 50's and 60's—what would you all point to as a particularly memorable Golson solo? I think his most memorable solos from this period can be found on Moanin'. Outside of that album, what Golson solos do you recall easily, or that make/made an impression?

It seems to me that the Coleman Hawkins-Benny Golson connection goes under-remarked.

[Peter Friedman]

These two are perhaps my favorite examples of Benny Golson's playing.

[JSngry]

 

[Joe]

 

[JSngry]

4 hours ago, Late said:

It seems to me that the Coleman Hawkins-Benny Golson connection goes under-remarked.

I'd say Don Byas more than Hawk?

[Peter Friedman]

I would say early Golson has a Lucky Thompson connection. Later Golson shows more of a "fuzzy" connection to Coltrane.

[Late]

6 hours ago, Joe said:

 

That is a tasty Golson solo indeed...

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

I'd say Don Byas more than Hawk?

I think you're right. I tend to forget Byas as an influence. Byas comes out of Hawk, but Byas also has a sort of slipperiness that Hawkins didn't. I wish Golson had been encouraged more as a soloist. His writing and arranging, and only because they were excellent, seem to take priority in his stature as a musician.

[Larry Kart]

IIRC, Golson is in fine early form on this one, as is Lee Morgan (dig his solo on "You['re Not the Kind)."

 

[Teasing the Korean]

Did anyone ever hear his Triple Play album for Audio Fidelity?  Jazz in one speaker, pop in the other, or you can listen to both at once!

 

[Big Beat Steve]

No ... But if I ever came across a copy at a good price I'd jump on it!

This may be totally gimmicky but it sounds like a fun idea.

[mikeweil]

Our Spanish friends reissued this. The Fresh Sound is a reissue of the pure jazz version. Both editions are oop.

https://www.discogs.com/release/9786341-Various-The-Complete-Triple-Play-Stereo-Sessions

https://www.discogs.com/master/579951-Benny-Golson-Just-Jazz

[Teasing the Korean]

6 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

Our Spanish friends reissued this. The Fresh Sound is a reissue of the pure jazz version. Both editions are oop.

So they just issued the one channel, with the jazz recording, but not the other channel?!?That's weird!

[medjuck]

Did the same group also do a music minus one Lp or is this what I'm remembering? 

[Peter Friedman]

Benny Golson was not one of my favorite tenor players with Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. I preferred Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter and Johnny Griffin with the Jazz Messengers.

In my view, Golson's recordings apart from the Jazz Messengers, especially those on New Jazz, Savoy, Contemporary and on Argo are the ones I most enjoy.

[mikeweil]

3 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

So they just issued the one channel, with the jazz recording, but not the other channel?!?That's weird!

It was originally issued in both versions!

[Gheorghe]

10 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

Benny Golson was not one of my favorite tenor players with Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. I preferred Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter and Johnny Griffin with the Jazz Messengers.

In my view, Golson's recordings apart from the Jazz Messengers, especially those on New Jazz, Savoy, Contemporary and on Argo are the ones I most enjoy.

In my own context, Benny Golson is one of the best composers. All my live long I played at least some of his compositions in various settings or they were called in jam sessions. At least "I Remember Clifford" and "Stablemates" I think were played 1000´s of times. 
As a tenor player he is okay but not among those I listen to very often. I think I can learn more from other tenorists. He somehow capured the sound of Don Byas but is not as flexible as Don. And live I often heard him do "Stablemates" as a feature for the drummer and a fix gimmick in his shows was somewhere in the course of the tune a tenor-drums duet, but I had the impression that Benny Golson just doesn´t get it on that point. Stuff where the bass and piano lay out and the saxophonist does a duet with the drummer is something great, a highlight, but not with Benny. Gimme Dave Liebman for that and it is the greatest. 

[mikeweil]

I once saw him live as a guest with a local big band. He played a long solo filled with bop, blues, and r&b licks but they all sounded amazingly fresh. You cannot hear that quality in any of the younger players.

[Gheorghe]

12 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

I once saw him live as a guest with a local big band. He played a long solo filled with bop, blues, and r&b licks but they all sounded amazingly fresh. You cannot hear that quality in any of the younger players.

I saw him many times live, mostly as a single with local players, or once with Curtis Fuller. 

 

[optatio]

I met him with his project "We Remember Clifford" at the Göttingen Jazzfestival November 3, 2006: Benny Golson (ts, ld), Philip Harper (tp), Eddie Henderson (tp), Kirk Lightsey (p), Reggie Johnson (b), Stephen McCraven (dr)

Before driving to the sound check, I took a photo of him with Kirk Lightsey in the hotel lobby

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by optatio

[Mark13]

16 hours ago, mikeweil said:

It was originally issued in both versions!

That's correct. The original release was the 'Triple Play: Pop + Swing = Jazz'-album in 1962 with the pop-orchestra and the jazzband on seperate channels. A fun experiment, but it didn't sell and it was quickly dropped. 

A couple of years later the music by the jazz-group was released as 'Just Jazz!'. 

Both albums are on an unofficial Jazz Beat-cd which has a playing-time of about 75 minutes.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Mark13