Benny Golson, RIP

[Dan Gould]

Jordi Sunol has posted on FB that Benny Golson has died:

The world just lost a great musician.

I have also lost a great friend.

RIP, Benny.

 

For me, he was the greatest composer of all. And I do mean all.

[Hardbopjazz]

Sad. But he has a long life. Thanks for the music Benny. RIP. 
 

[sgcim]

RIP. to another one of the all-time great composer/tenor players.

[optatio]

Oh, very sad - met him in Göttingen - R.I.P. ...

Edited September 22 by optatio

[ejp626]

RIP.  So fortunate for me, I was actually able to see him on a couple of different times he was passing through Chicago and playing at the Jazz Showcase.  

[colinmce]

Truly a gift that he was with us for so long. RIP to one of the all-time greats. 

[jlhoots]

R.I.P. Great musician & composer.

[JSngry]

Wow, he was one of those guys who seemed ageless. I guess not.

RIP and nothing but love here. Forever.

[Peter Friedman]

An important jaaz musician and composer. Sad to hear that he left us. But his music will live on for a long time.

R.I.P.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Great composer and player. I was lucky to have seen him play several times over the years and he never failed to give his all. Thanks for the music Benny.

[mjzee]

One of the greats.  R.I.P.  Who's going to write "I Remember Benny"?

[Brad]

He was one of the greats. What a musical life. So many songs will love forever, chief among them “I Remember Clifford,” one of the greatest songs ever written IMHO. 

[John L]

RIP.  One of the giants. 

[ghost of miles]

Saw him in concert 20 years ago with fellow boardmember sheldonm and knew I was in the presence of greatness. A lot of compositional nuggets in his legacy that could be mined beyond the Killer Joe and I Remember Clifford usual suspects. A warm and compelling storyteller, both conversationally and musically.  Also known one of the last musicians left from the Great Day in Harlem photo… only Sonny’s left now. Think I’ll throw on some Jazztet and chase it with The Philadelphians.

[JSngry]

First heard him on George Russell's New York, New York album, that incredible first side with Trane on "Manhattan" and then Golson on "Big City Blues"...Side Two? WHAT Side Two????

Also, major props for his business acumen. Talk about a "journey" (a word I have come to detest), his was not just one of music but also of business. To use the modern jargon, he certainly knew how to "leverage opportunities". 

[Quasimado]

Deep in the great tradition - many thanks - RIP.

[medjuck]

Saw him with a local Montreal rhythm section in the early sixties. IIRC saw Art Farmer with same rhythm section a few weeks later. Maybe the only time I saw either of them. 

[Ken Dryden]

I never got to see him perform, but he is well represented in my collection and he was a delightful interview, which took place in December 2007. 

One of the greats who will be missed.

[Chuck Nessa]

Remembering some time spent with Golson and Art Farmer in the lobby of the Blackstone Hotel. They were in town for the Chicago Jazz Festival and we were getting acquainted. I made the error of mentioning I was the local distributor for Timeless Records, and that changed the vibe in the room .Both launched into horror stories of traveling around Europe in an uncomfortable van, getting to gig to gig. They were not fans of Wim Wigt.

Edited September 23 by Chuck Nessa

[Gheorghe]

I will almost remember him as a great composer. He was, almost like Tadd Dameron the perfect composer. I heard so many of his compositions on the old BN records and Prestige records. He played very often at Jazzland for many years, but I´m sure in the last decade or more he didn´t travel anymore. 
As a composer he was tops, better than an improvisator I think. 
I liked his compositions more than the way he played, especially in the last 3 or 4 decades. He had a bit a Don Byas tone, but was trying to phrase more like Archie Shepp, and sometimes his improvisations where a bit erratic. 
I saw him often play "Stable Mates" but to my disappointment he played it mostly as a tenor-drum duet while this would be such a beautiful vehicle for long solos from each one. But when I saw his somewhere at some festival around 2000 , I think it was with Curtis Fuller, Mulgrew Miller, Buster Williams and a drummer whom I didn´t know, he had dread looks and eye glasses but was not Hamid Drake, whom I know, and when they did that "duet" on Stablemate, Benny just didn´t know how to do it, he sometimes put his mouthpiece to the mouth and smiled, but didn´t know what to do. Such tenor-drum duets can be a highpoint, but with players who can do that. Dave Liebman is great in it. 

[kh1958]

I'm glad to have had the good fortune to have heard him in person one time, at Sweet Basil in 1997, leading a quartet.

Edited September 23 by kh1958

[Pim]

Glad to have seen him live a few years ago when he was 91 or 92 but still had lots of energy. A great player with a distinctive tone. RIP

[soulpope]

What a life .... R.I.P     ....

[Rabshakeh]

RIP. One of the last remaining figures from that generation.

[RiRiIII]

RIP. A giant. So many standards by him.

The family knows him from the Terminal movie with Tom Hanks.

He also made a record in Athens in 2000.

“Even now at 90, I don’t know everything there is to know,” Mr. Golson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2019. “So when I teach master classes, sometimes the teacher learns from the kids. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it should be. Like Sonny Rollins said to me once: ‘There’s no end to this music.’”

Edited September 23 by RiRiIII