Benny Golson: A Grandmaster Departs
Greg, Jewel, Awilda Rivera, and Benny Golson at WBGO studios
On Saturday, September 21, 2024, jazz grandmaster Benny Golson, 95, joined the ancestors. That he was a reader of our newsletter was a point of pride for Jewel and me, as was his appearance in our Jazz Masters series at Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem on February 22nd and 23rd, 2013.
A few weeks before the gig, Benny, a man of abiding grace and ever-present class, called us to apologize. He said his bassist, Buster Williams, couldn’t do the gig.
“But I arranged for a replacement. You may have heard of him . . . Ron Carter.”
Ron Carter and Benny Golson at Ginny's Supper Club
Jewel and I were floored. Two grandmasters on the same engagement was a dream come true.
So was the occasion when I met Benny’s long-time friend, Quincy Jones. Corporate titan Richard Parsons invited me to a private cultivation event for the Jazz Foundation of America at the Time Warner building. Quincy was present. After introducing myself, I mentioned Benny, knowing they lived in the same building in NYC and recorded classics together from the 1950s on.
Quincy: “Benny Golson? Man, you better have a dictionary when you speak with Benny!”
Since writing a profile on Benny in 2008, he and I would correspond occasionally. I got a kick out of his use of elevated language, which fit with the elegant hospitality of his manner. As I once wrote,
Listening to Benny Golson speak, whether waxing philosophical or musicological, sharing hilarious stories, or recounting difficult periods, induces feelings quite similar to those his tunes evoke. He's dignified, eloquent, and melodic. He evinces a graceful humility and a down-to-earth manner. He's one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. But according to his long-time pianist Mike LeDonne, Golson's modest demeanor belies the fact that he's also a genius.
Bobbie Golson, Benny, Jewel, and Greg
Benny Golson is a pillar of the jazz idiom. Of the music, he once said: “Jazz is the ultimate common denominator of American musical spirit.” He is one of the most outstanding jazz composers of the 20th century, and as such numbers such as those that follow are part and parcel of the standard jazz repertoire. He was also a unique stylistic virtuoso on tenor saxophone.
Here are several classics by a jazz immortal, Benny Golson:
For deeper insights into his history and legacy, I invite you to read my two-part tribute to him published two summers ago in our newsletter.