Along Came Benny: Golson Talks Jazz

Savvy on the saxophone and just as smooth at storytelling, Benny Golson charmed a small audience last Thursday at the New College Theatre. Those who attended the two-hour interview were privileged to have stumbled upon one of the jewels of the jazz industry. With tales from his boyhood spent in Philadelphia with John Coltrane and his successful years of touring with Dizzy Gillespie, Golson passed on stories and advice to the next generation of aspiring jazz artists.

When jazz was still young, Golson was busy playing tenor saxophone whenever he could. “We were trying to figure out what this thing called ‘jazz’ was,” Golson said. “We didn’t know where we were going, but we wanted to get there as soon as possible.”

Golson wasn’t stopped by the fact that there was no guarantee that his efforts to be a part of the up-and-coming musical genre would result in financial security. “There was no money, no direction, no promises,” Golson said. “But it’s an art form that refuses to die, because all of us who are engaged in it are driven.”

As a 15-year-old kid in Philadelphia, Golson and pianist Ray Bryant started off in a 15-piece band that had a simple, rough sound and played some gigs on the weekends. Golson recounted the story of their first gig: the leader of the group called and told Golson and Bryant the gig was cancelled, but in reality he had replaced them with other musicians. The two boys were devastated. “My mother took each of us in her arms and said ‘One day you’ll be so good they won’t even be able to afford you.’” Golson said. “And sure enough, years later the two of us were at the Newport Jazz Festival, and we were saying to each other, ‘Those guys are still in Philadelphia and we’re here.’”

When Golson’s career began to pick up and he was playing more and more dates in Philadelphia, his attention strayed beyond the city. “I wanted to go on the road so bad, I would have gone with a circus band,” Golson said, chuckling. Luckily for him, Bull Moose Jackson, an already successful jazz musician at the time, came to Philadelphia, auditioned Golson, and launched his professional career.

While playing in Jackson’s rhythm and blues band, Golson met famous pianist and arranger Tadd Dameron. “He was an open book, and he let me pick his brain,” Golson said. With advice from Dameron, Golson began composing music, which would become his primary lifelong passion.

“I wrote the song ‘Stablemates’ while in the middle of a divorce with my wife,” Golson said. “We were playing in a town near her town and when there was a break in the set I pretended to be busy writing so she couldn’t talk to me. What I was writing turned out to be ‘Stablemates.’” His composing talent made him a hot commodity in the jazz business.

In 1956, Golson began working with Dizzy Gillespie’s band, performing at acclaimed venues such as the Apollo Theatre in New York. In the same year, a car accident claimed the life of young trumpeter Clifford Brown, and the loss was devastating to Golson and his contemporaries. Golson and Brown had played together with Dameron in the early 50s, and in memory of his friend’s death, Golson wrote the song “I Remember Clifford.”

“Dizzy Gillespie asked me if he could record my song. Little did he know that I had his picture on my wall in high school,” Golson said. “My hero had come down off the wall and asked to record my song.”

While playing with Tadd Dameron in Atlantic City, Golson met Art Farmer. Farmer’s music amazed Golson, and he became yet another source of inspiration for the aspiring artist. “I had never met anyone with such a wsarm sound,” said Golson. These two pioneers began a jazz sextet—an arrangement that had not been attempted before. The Jazztet, as it was eventually called, included other big-name musicians such as pianist McCoy Tyner and trombonist Curtis Fuller. This group was yet another successful step in Golson’s remarkable career.

After spending the week at Harvard, the jazz legend said that he was reminded that there’s always new music to find. “I should always keep listening because I’m always going to hear things I have never heard before,” Golson said. “That’s just the way it is.”