Benny Golson

Benny Golson emerged as a commanding tenor saxophonist and composer whose refined yet intensely soulful approach defined hard bop. He earned acclaim both through his independent projects and by establishing the Jazztet with a fellow musician. After gaining experience in Dizzy Gillespie’s vibrant big band during the 1950s, Golson issued several recordings under his own name, among them The Modern Touch in 1958. He also performed with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers on their landmark 1959 album Moanin’. Equally celebrated for his writing as for his instrumental work, Golson created numerous enduring jazz standards, among them “I Remember Clifford,” composed in tribute to Clifford Brown, a colleague from Tadd Dameron’s group. Additional pieces he authored include “Blues March,” “Stablemates,” “Whisper Not,” “Along Came Betty,” and “Killer Joe,” the final selection first appearing on Meet the Jazztet, the 1960 debut he co-led with Art Farmer. After concentrating on television scoring throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he reentered the jazz arena, reconvened the Jazztet, and produced further acclaimed small-group recordings such as Terminal 1 in 2004, the same year he portrayed himself in the Tom Hanks film The Terminal. Recognized as an NEA Jazz Master and recipient of the Grammy Trustees Award, Golson had become a living legend by the time of his death in 2024.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1929, Golson grew up as the sole child of seamstress and waitress Celadia and gas-company foreman Bennie in a working-class household. His parents had already separated before his birth, leaving Celadia to raise him; she introduced him to piano lessons at age nine. At first Golson envisioned a future as a classical concert pianist, yet jazz soon captured his imagination. His uncle’s employment as a bartender at New York’s renowned Minton’s Playhouse gave the teenager opportunities to witness emerging bebop figures including Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke, and Joe Guy. By age fourteen he had taken up the tenor saxophone, drawing particular inspiration from Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Thompson, Don Byas, and especially Arnett Cobb, whose 1943 solo on “Flying Home” with Lionel Hampton’s band at Philadelphia’s Earle Theater ignited Golson’s determination to play the instrument.

Within Philadelphia’s thriving jazz community, Golson associated with peers such as John Coltrane, with whom he attended jam sessions, as well as Jimmy and Percy Heath, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, and Ray Bryant. Following high school he enrolled at Howard University and received his degree in 1950. Around this period he joined Bull Moose Jackson’s R&B ensemble in Philadelphia, where pianist and composer Tadd Dameron exerted a decisive influence on Golson’s developing compositional voice. While performing with Dameron’s group alongside trumpeter Clifford Brown, Golson made his first recordings on the 1953 Prestige sessions that produced A Study in Dameronia.

Beyond his work with Dameron, Golson held positions with Lionel Hampton, Johnny Hodges, and Earl Bostic, yet he first achieved wider recognition as a central figure in Dizzy Gillespie’s international big band from 1956 to 1958, where his arrangements drew as much attention as his tenor playing. During those years he wrote such standards as “I Remember Clifford,” dedicated to the recently deceased Clifford Brown, along with “Killer Joe,” “Stablemates,” “Whisper Not,” “Along Came Betty,” and “Blues March.” Although several of these pieces were initially recorded by other artists, a number also surfaced on Golson’s own releases with Gillespie. In addition to the big-band dates, he participated in notable Verve albums including Dizzy in Greece, Birks’ Work, and Dizzy Gillespie at Newport.

After leaving Gillespie, Golson joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers alongside fellow former Gillespie sidemen Lee Morgan, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt. Although his tenure with Blakey lasted only a year, he contributed to the classic 1959 Blue Note album Moanin’, which featured Timmons’s gospel-tinged title track and several of Golson’s compositions, among them the immediate standards “Along Came Betty” and “Blues March.” These tracks helped establish Moanin’ as one of the definitive hard-bop recordings. Golson departed the group in 1959 but had already toured Europe with the Messengers, appearing on live albums and the soundtrack for Eduardo Molinaro’s film Des Femmes Disparaissent.

As a leader, Golson debuted in 1958 with Benny Golson’s New York Scene, a quintet session that included future Jazztet partner Art Farmer on trumpet, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Charlie Persip. Several earlier 1957 sessions appeared shortly afterward, among them The Other Side of Benny Golson and The Modern Touch, the latter featuring trumpeter Kenny Dorham, trombonist J.J. Johnson, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Max Roach. He subsequently recorded a series of well-regarded albums for the New Jazz label, including Gone with Golson, Groovin’ with Golson, and Gettin’ with It.

In 1959 Golson left Blakey to co-found the influential sextet the Jazztet with trumpeter and flugelhornist Art Farmer. The two musicians had collaborated intermittently since the early 1950s and shared an affinity for meticulously arranged, melodically soulful writing that exploited the multiple lead voices available in a sextet. The initial roster included trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Addison Farmer, and drummer Dave Bailey; by the time of the group’s 1960 Argo debut Meet the Jazztet, Lex Humphries had replaced Bailey. The album attracted significant notice, particularly for Golson’s composition “Killer Joe,” which quickly became another jazz standard. Over the ensuing years Golson and Farmer directed the Jazztet through several personnel shifts, incorporating players such as Cedar Walton and Albert Heath on 1960’s Big City Sounds and Grachan Moncur III and Harold Mabern on 1962’s Here and Now.

The demanding rehearsal schedule required by the Jazztet’s intricate charts ultimately prompted Golson and Farmer to disband the group by mutual agreement in 1962. Golson then concentrated on solo projects, releasing albums such as Pop + Jazz = Swing in 1965, Turning Point, and Free. He also spent time in Europe, where he recorded Stockholm Sojourn in 1965.

Back in the United States, he issued Tune In, Turn On in 1967, an unconventional Verve collection of reworked television-commercial jingles. Increasing studio commitments followed as Golson turned toward arranging and composing for Hollywood productions, supplying scores for series including The Partridge Family, M*A*S*H, Room 222, and Mission: Impossible.

After nearly fifteen years largely removed from jazz performance, Golson staged a mid-1970s return. His comeback album Killer Joe appeared on Columbia in 1977 and presented a somewhat more robust tenor sound while incorporating funk and fusion elements into his classic hard-bop foundation. Subsequent recordings included California Message in 1980 with Curtis Fuller, Time Speaks in 1983 alongside Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw, and the 1990 Benny Golson Quartet featuring Mulgrew Miller.

Golson, Farmer, and Fuller also reconvened, assembling various editions of the Jazztet and documenting the reunions on albums such as Voices All and Moment to Moment in 1983 as well as Back to the City and Real Time in 1986. Throughout the 1990s Golson remained prolific, issuing a succession of acoustic-jazz dates including I Remember Miles in 1992, That’s Funky with Nat Adderley in 1995, Up Jumped Benny in 1997, and Remembering Clifford in 1998.

By the 2000s Golson’s stature as a living legend was confirmed by his cameo appearance in the 2004 Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks comedy-drama The Terminal. Concurrent with that role he released Terminal 1, which featured trumpeter Eddie Henderson and revisited several signature compositions such as “Killer Joe” and “Blues March.” Later honors included the 1996 NEA Jazz Masters Award, an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music in 1999, and the 2007 International Academy of Jazz Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2009 he was inducted into the International Academy of Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 2021 he received the Grammy Trustees Award. Howard University, his alma mater, established the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award in his name. He continued performing and recording well into his eighties, producing The Masquerade Is Over in 2005, Many Moods of Benny Golson in 2007, New Time, New ’Tet in 2009, and Horizon Ahead in 2016. After a brief illness, Golson died at his Manhattan residence on September 21, 2024, at the age of 95.