Benny Golson Performed To SRO Portland Audience Wednesday, April 21st, 2010.

Benny Golson played to an S.R.O. Portland audience on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at Jimmy Mak’s ( voted one of the top 100 places to hear live jazz in the world by Downbeat Magazine ). Portland’s own world-class jazz musicians Mel Brown (drums), Ed Bennett (bass) and Tony Pacini (piano), shared the bandstand with the honorable and sophisticated jazz tenor legend playing  notable Golson compositions such as, Whisper Not, Along Came Betty, I Remember Clifford, Killer Joe, and Stablemates - just to name a few. In addition to his great playing, Benny’s soft spoken eloquence on the microphone between tunes, ( often humorous ), gave those in attendance a “behind the scenes” glance at jazz history.  At one point Benny announced;  “Maybe the next time, I’ll come back and play two nights here. And, I want this band!” ( Saphu Record Execs are already working on it ). Benny Golson’s performance marked a crowning achievement in our growth as one of the best jazz venues in America, and we hope to see him again very soon.

Mr. Golson’s Bio in brief:- see below

While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and Red Rodney. After graduating from Howard University Golson joined Bull Moose Jackson’s rhythm and blues band; Tadd Dameron, whom Golson came to consider the most important influence on his writing, was Jackson’s pianist at the time.

From 1953 to 1959 Golson played with Dameron’s band and then with the bands of Lionel Hampton, Johnny Hodges, Earl Bostic, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

Golson was working with the Lionel Hampton band at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1956 when he learned that Clifford Brown, a noted and well-liked jazz trumpeter who had done a stint with him in Hampton’s band, had died in a car accident. Golson was so moved by the event that he composed the threnody “I Remember Clifford”, as a tribute to a fellow musician and friend.

Golson has composed several other jazz standards such as “Stable Mates”, “Killer Joe”, “Whisper Not”, “Along Came Betty” and “Are You Real?”.

From 1959 to 1962 Golson co-led the Jazztet with Art Farmer. Golson then left jazz to concentrate on studio and orchestral work for 12 years. During this time he composed music for such television shows as Ironside, Room 222, M*A*S*H, and The Six Million Dollar Man. During the mid-1970s Golson returned to jazz playing and recording. In 1983 he re-organized the Jazztet.

In 1995 Golson received the NEA Jazz Masters Award of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Golson made a cameo appearance in the 2004 movie The Terminal, related to his appearance in the A Great Day in Harlem photo. As of 2007, he tours regularly.

In October 2007 Golson received the Mellon Living Legend Legacy Award 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.

In November 2009, Benny 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.

Apr. 17, 2010 | Featured, Live Events, News