Saxophonist and composer Benny Golson, who passed away last month at 95, was one of the jazz musicians in the famous Art Kane photograph for Esquire in 1958 (below). Golson is up near the top, a place he surely deserved.
“He had it all,” explained vibraphonist Terry Gibbs. “Very good arranger, very good tenor player.” Golson came up through big bands and formed influential combos such as the Jazztet. The tenor man composed tunes such as “Whisper Not,” “Killer Joe,” and “I Remember Clifford,” in memory of Clifford Brown, the great trumpeter who died in a car crash in 1956.
“What gives a composition validity is the knowledge of the person writing it, the experience he can draw on,” Golson told Downbeat. “But when you get to the meat of it, it’s in the intervals, what follows what. That’s what a melody is. When I write my songs, I’m conscious of intervals. Art Farmer was conscious of intervals. That’s why he played so beautifully. You get the right intervals in place and you’ve got something that will live past your time — Duke, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Claude Thornhill.”
Golson’s compositions will live long past his time. His genius at turnarounds comes through in “Blues March,” “Five Spot After Dark,” and “Along Came Betty,” a challenge for any soloist. Golson also wrote music for “M*A*S*H,” “Mission Impossible” and television specials, but he reestablished himself as a player and remained active into his 90s. Joining Golson in the 1958 photo are:
Red Allen, Buster Bailey, Count Basie, Emmett Berry, Art Blakey, Lawrence Brown, Scoville Browne, Buck Clayton, Bill Crump, Vic Dickenson, Roy Eldridge, Art Farmer, Bud Freeman, Dizzy Gillespie, Tyree Glenn, Sonny Greer, Johnny Griffin, Gigi Gryce, Coleman Hawkins, J.C. Heard, Jay C. Higginbotham, Milt Hinton, Chubby Jackson, Hilton Jefferson, Joe Thomas, Wilbur Ware, Dickie Wells, George Wettling, Ernie Wilkins, Mary Lou Williams, Lester Young, Osie Johnson, Hank Jones, Jo Jones, Jimmy Jones, Taft Jordan, Max Kaminsky, Gene Krupa, Eddie Locke, Marian McPartland, Charles Mingus, Miff Mole, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Oscar Pettiford, Rudy Powell, Luckey Roberts, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Rushing, Pee Wee Russell, Sahib Shihab, Horace Silver, Zutty Singleton, Stuff Smith, Rex Stewart and Maxine Sullivan.
Benny Golson’s departure leaves Sonny Rollins as the photo’s last survivor. The composer of “Saxophone Colossus” and other great albums now logs in at 94. Terry Gibbs, who isn’t in the photo, turns 100 on October 13.
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