Benny Golson
Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929)[1] is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.[2] He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launching his solo career. Golson is known for co-founding and co-leading The Jazztet with trumpeter Art Farmer in 1959. From the late 1960s through the 1970s Golson was in demand as an arranger for film and television and thus was less active as a performer, but he and Farmer re-formed the Jazztet in 1982.[3]
Benny Golson
Many of Golson's compositions have become jazz standards including "I Remember Clifford", "Blues March", "Stablemates", "Whisper Not", "Along Came Betty", and "Killer Joe". He is regarded as "one of the most significant contributors" to the development of hard bop jazz,[4] and was a recipient of a Grammy Trustees Award in 2021.[5]
Early life and education[edit]
Born in Philadelphia, Golson began learning the piano at age nine, then switched to the saxophone when he was 14.[3] While a student at Benjamin Franklin High School in Philadelphia,[6] he played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and Red Rodney. He later attended Howard University.
Awards and honors[edit]
In 1996, Golson received the NEA Jazz Masters Award of the National Endowment for the Arts.[17]
In 1999, Golson was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music.[18]
In October 2007, Golson received the Mellon Living Legend Legacy Award,[17] 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.[19]
In November 2009, Golson 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. Many distinguished jazz artists have received this award.[20]
Beliefs[edit]
In an interview with "Awake!" on October 08, 1980, Golson said that since the late 60s he had become a member of the religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses
Benny Golson in Denmark (2007)