Johnny Griffin has left us...

[Soul Stream]

Just learned of this.... We've been privileged to live in this time where jazz Giants (Big and Little) walked the earth. Was watching "Straight, No Chaser" on DVD tonight before I learned of this...Monk turned to J. Griffin...looked at his striped slacks and said "Those are some bad motherfuckers." RiP JG.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

oh my god, not johnny- a blowin session will never sound the same again, RIP blue note and jazzland recording artist johnny griffin- tenor sax player or great talent!

[ejp626]

Playlist from Johnny Griffin Tribute:

Friday, July 25, 8pm=­midnight, WGBH 89.7

REMEMBERING THE "LITTLE GIANT" JOHNNY GRIFFIN (d.7/25/2008)

I caught most of this. I thought it was a very good tribute show, esp. given the short timeframe to pull it together. Still sad about the news, and it makes me redouble my efforts to go see the last of the giants while they are still touring.

[gaston]

as I am a french I have had a lot of opportunity to see JG performing, talkin with him a lot of time too. more, I live very closely from his "castle" ( which is a real french -small- castle ) . jonny griffin is definitely one of the best thing wich happens to jazz-and to music.

[Christiern]

I took these of Griffin, Lockjaw and Curtis Lundy at the Umbria '84 Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy - August 1984

Edited July 26, 2008 by Christiern

[marcello]

Thanks Chris, but it's Curtis LUNDY.

I saw his sister Carmen, last month.

[Christiern]

Thanks Chris, but it's Curtis LUNDY.

I saw his sister Carmen, last month.

Thanks, Marcello, for reminding me that one should always proofread!

[Fer Urbina]

Shocking news. He was just in London a few weeks ago to promote the recent biography and do some book signings (he was also gigging at Ronnie Scotts that week I think). Now I'm kicking myself I didn't go. A wonderful player, I'm glad at least to have seen his concert a few years ago with George Coleman and it didn't disappoint. By all accounts, he seems to have had an idyllic last 20+ years living in a wonderful place with his wife in rural France so he had a great life. RIP Mr Griffin.

A picture (not a very good one) from the book launch.

F

(Edit to add that the one on the right is Mike Hennessey, author of the biography)

Edited July 26, 2008 by Fer Urbina

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

"Griffin's 1958 album "A Blowing Session," a hard bop jam session with John Coltrane, drummer Art Blakey and others, remains among his signature works."

ppfffffst

[Durium]

JOHNNY GRIFFIN (1928-2008)

I remember this little giant on the tenor saxophone in a concert May 2002 at the Chassé Theater in Breda in the south of the Netherlands, together with the Rein De Graaff Trio, featuring Rein De Graaff piano, Marius Beets bass and Eric Ineke drums. A great performer, although in his 70s already - great solos and always joking on stage.

Johny Griffin (1928-2008)

Keep swinging

Durium

[sidewinder]

A picture (not a very good one) from the book launch.

F

(Edit to add that the one on the right is Mike Hennessey, author of the biography)

Looks pretty good to me. Thanks for posting !

[LarryCurleyMoe]

What a drag - one of the most soulful tenors. Period. Call it whatchwanna, he played his arse off. Rest in peace, Griff...

[Shrdlu]

What a marvelous player. and what a sad loss.

The first album I heard him on was the live date with Wes Montgomery and Miles's rhythm section. I don't think that has popped up in this thread yet. That's a real cooker of a date, and the Wes Montgomery Riverside box set has several extra tracks.

Griff was perfect for Monk, and has to be counted as one of the very best of Monk's tenors. Some people thought he was more suited to Monk than Trane, but I don't want to make comparisons like that. We have both to enjoy, in any case.

[Michael Weiss]

I just pulled out an old logbook. In addition to five record dates, it looks like I played over 350 gigs with Griff. That's a lot of notes!

This is in the kitchen of the Vanguard from May, 2000. From left to right: Griff, Ben Riley, Lou Donaldson, me, Frank Wess, Vanessa Rubin.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Michael Weiss

[paul secor]

Thanks for posting the pic, Michael. Looks like everyone involved was in a good place - not just talking about the Vanguard.

[Big Al]

Wait a second..... you mean to tell me that I've been in Chicago since JG's death on Friday and I'm only finding out about it NOW when I get a chance to log on for the first time since being up here???? Hell, I was in the Jazz Record Mart on Sunday and not ONE mention anywhere of Griff's passing! His hometown, fer Christ's sake!!!!

Shit. RIP Johnny. You deserved better than this. Gonna throw on A BLOWIN' SESSION when I get back to Texas.

[sidewinder]

Hell, I was in the Jazz Record Mart on Sunday and not ONE mention anywhere of Griff's passing! His hometown, fer Christ's sake!!!!

Astonishing !

[clifford_thornton]

Anybody read Durium's blog post? Really nice.

The film he linked of Griff with A.T., Urtreger and Cullaz is really happening.

[uli]

Wait a second..... you mean to tell me that I've been in Chicago since JG's death on Friday and I'm only finding out about it NOW when I get a chance to log on for the first time since being up here???? Hell, I was in the Jazz Record Mart on Sunday and not ONE mention anywhere of Griff's passing! His hometown, fer Christ's sake!!!!

Shit. RIP Johnny. You deserved better than this. Gonna throw on A BLOWIN' SESSION when I get back to Texas.

This obit by Howard Reich appeared in the Sunday Trib

Johnny Griffin 1928 ~ 2008

Made-in-Chicago 'tough tenor'

'Little Giant,' who came of age when jazz clubs crowded the South Side, consistently startled listeners with his outsized sound and brilliant technique

By Howard Reich | Chicago Tribune critic

July 27, 2008

Chicago has produced more than its share of colossal tenor saxophonists, from past icons such as Eddie Harris and Gene Ammons to current masters such as Von Freeman and Fred Anderson.

Among them, Johnny Griffin stood out for the brilliance of his technique, the enormous scale of his sound and the explosive energy of his improvisations.

Mr. Griffin, 80, who for many listeners epitomized Chicago's larger-than-life "tough tenor" sound, died Friday, July 25, near Poitiers, France, where he lived with his wife, Miriam, said his sister, Lita McClinton. He had suffered a stroke a few years ago, but continued to play and was scheduled to perform in Europe this weekend.

Though somewhat overlooked in the United States since he moved to Europe in 1963, Mr. Griffin began to play regularly again in Chicago, New York and other American jazz centers in the late 1970s, consistently startling listeners with the prowess of his work.

"He always sounded great—he had it from Day One," said Freeman, who knew Mr. Griffin since grade school on Chicago's South Side.

"He was one of those little geniuses you meet," said Freeman, referring to Mr. Griffin's slight physical stature, which early on earned him the nickname "Little Giant."

Composer David Baker, who heads the jazz department at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, said: "I've listened to [John] Coltrane and everyone who came along, and I'm not certain there's ever been anybody with greater technical facility. Along with some others, he very much summed up Chicago tenor."

For good reason. Mr. Griffin came of age when jazz clubs crowded the South Side and a generation of made-in-Chicago jazz musicians were trained by the feared-and-revered Capt. Walter Dyett at DuSable High School.

Dyett turned out such future stars as Freeman, Ammons, Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Johnny Hartman, Dorothy Donegan and Eddie Harris, but Mr. Griffin made his splash early. Bandleader Lionel Hampton heard him play at a DuSable assembly and was smitten.

"Hamp actually heard Johnny playing alto saxophone, but he loved what he heard—I was there that day," recalled jazz guitarist George Freeman, Von's brother. "So Johnny went out on the road with Hamp, playing tenor."

Mr. Griffin created a sensation playing solos opposite tenorist Arnett Cobb on "Flying Home," which had been a breakthrough hit for Illinois Jacquet.

But Mr. Griffin tired of the familiar swing-band repertoire. By the late 1940s, he began to lean toward the new sound in jazz: Bebop, its fast-flying chord changes and phenomenal technical demands uniquely suited his gifts as instrumentalist and improviser.

Post-Hampton stints with Joe Morris' band in the late 1940s, and Art Blakey and Thelonious Monk in the mid-'50s, burnished Mr. Griffin's credentials as one of the most accomplished tenor players in the kingdom of bop.

Anyone who doubted his outsized sound and instrumental skill needed only to listen to his 1957 Blue Note album, "A Blowing Session," in which Mr. Griffin went up against saxophonists Coltrane and Hank Mobley.

"Coltrane already was thought of as an important figure at that time," said Chicago saxophonist Frank Catalano. "But when you compare Griffin and Coltrane on that recording, Griffin had way more stuff going on. I believe Coltrane learned from Johnny Griffin, I believe Michael Brecker learned from Johnny Griffin."

Mr. Griffin's "tough tenor" collaboration with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis in performance and on record in the early 1960s brought acclaim to both men. As the decades unfolded and trends in jazz came and went, Mr. Griffin clung to the bebop vernacular.

"Maybe I'm historic," Mr. Griffin said in a 1990 Tribune interview, "but living in France, I learned long ago that folks in America are often obsessed with everything new, young, different.

"Well, some of the old sounds have something to say too."

Mr. Griffin proved the point on the CD "Chicago, New York, Paris" (Verve, 1995), which breathed the fire of old.

He returned to Chicago in 2005, playing at the pinnacle of his form alongside several other Chicago tenor men at a Chicago Jazz Ensemble concert at the Art Institute of Chicago. But he also reaffirmed his ability to play a ballad, showing extraordinary tenderness in "When We Were One."

Other survivors include three daughters, Cynthia, Ingrid Morgan and JoOna Danois; a son, John Arnold Griffin IV; and several grandchildren.

A Chicago tribute to Mr. Griffin is being planned.

hreich@tribune.com

[Durium]

Anybody read Durium's blog post? Really nice.

The film he linked of Griff with A.T., Urtreger and Cullaz is really happening.

For those who missed it ......

Johnny Griffin 1928-2008)

Keep swinging

Durium

[Peter Friedman]

Was out of town for a few days and was very saddened upon my return to hear that the Little Giant was gone. He was one of my favorite living tenor players. Thankfully I got to hear him live a number of times, and his playing never disappointed me.

I have a solid collection of just about everything Johnny Griffin recorded, and will be playing many of them in the coming weeks.

[gmonahan]

Was out of town for a few days and was very saddened upon my return to hear that the Little Giant was gone.

Same here. "Blowing Session" is one of Blue Note's true classics. Also like "The Congregation" and the more recent "The Cat" on Antilles. Anybody else want to list some of their favorites?

Greg Mo

[Michael Weiss]

This is tough for his legion of fans, it must be extra tough on Michael Weiss, since Griff not only helped raise his profile when he was younger but I'm sure helped him in ways musical and otherwise.

Must have skimmed over this before. Thanks for the thought Dan.

[Michael Weiss]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=93036531

[CJ Shearn]

damn, I just caught this today. I was JUST thinking about putting on "Introducing" and "A Blowin Session" later on, and I find out reading this, he passed . I loved that gruff R&B-ish tone of his and his fluency. I also like the jam session with Count Basie at Montreux '75, and his one off with JOS. Man, if only Alfred had tapped him for one of JOS' jams with horns! And how could I forget? I love his contribution to Wes' "Full House".

Edited August 1, 2008 by CJ Shearn