Tag Archives: Benny Golson

Dizzy Gillespie: The Greatest trumpet Of Them All

In December 1957, “Verve” label released “The Greatest Trumpet of Them All”, the 26th Dizzy Gillespie album. It was recorded in December 1957, in New York City, and was produced by Norman Granz.

Personnel:

  • Dizzy Gillespie – trumpet
  • Gigi Gryce – alto saxophone, arrangements
  • Benny Golson – tenor saxophone, arrangements
  • Pee Wee Moore – baritone saxophone
  • Henry Coker – trombone
  • Ray Bryant – piano
  • Tommy Bryant – bass
  • Charlie Persip – drums

Track listing:

  1. Blues After Dark – Benny Golson
  2. Sea Breeze – Larry Douglas, Fred Norman, Rommie Beardon
  3. Out of the Past – Benny Golson
  4. Shabozz – Gigi Gryce
  5. Reminiscing – Gigi Gryce
  6. A Night at Tony’s – Gigi Gryce
  7. Smoke Signals – Gigi Gryce
  8. Just by Myself – Benny Golson

Stan Getz: Cool Velvet

In November 1960, “Verve” label released “Cool Velvet”, the 35th Stan Getz album. It was recorded in March 1960, in Baden-Baden, Germany, and was produced by Creed Taylor.

Personnel:

  • Stan Getz – tenor saxophone
  • Russell Garcia – conductor, arrangements
  • Jan Johansson – piano
  • Blanchie Birdsong – harp
  • Dave Hildinger – vibes
  • Freddy Dutton – bass
  • Sperie Karas – drums
  • Merle Shore – cover art
  • Benny Green – sleeve notes

Track listing:

  1. The Thrill Is Gone – Lew Brown, Ray Henderson
  2. It Never Entered My Mind – Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
  3. Early Autumn – Ralph Burns, Woody Herman, Johnny Mercer
  4. When I Go, I Go All the Way – Russell Garcia, Bob Russell
  5. A New Town Is a Blue Town – Richard Adler, Jerry Ross
  6. Round Midnight – Bernie Hanighen, Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams
  7. Born to Be Blue – Mel Torme, Robert Wells
  8. Whisper Not – Benny Golson
  9. Goodbye – Gordon Jenkins
  10. Nature Boy – Eden Ahbez

Sonny Stitt And Art Blakey With The Jazz Messengers: In Walked Sonny

In September 1975, “Sonet Records” label released “In Walked Sonny”, album by Sonny Stitt and Art Blakey with The Jazz Messengers. It was recorded in May 1975, in New York City, and was produced by Sam Charters.

Personnel:

  • Sonny Stitt – alto and tenor saxophone
  • Art Blakey – drums
  • David Schnitter – tenor saxophone
  • Bill Hardman – trumpet
  • Walter Davis, Jr. – piano
  • Yoshio “Chin” Suzuki – bass
  • Elvin Campbell – engineer 
  • Terence Brace – design
  • Kenji Takigami – photography
  • Sam Charters – liner notes

Track listing:

  1. Blues March – Benny Golson
  2. It Might as Well Be Spring – Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II
  3. Birdlike – Freddie Hubbard
  4. I Can’t Get Started – George Gershwin, Vernon Duke
  5. Ronnie’s a Dynamite Lady – Walter Davis, Jr.
  6. In Walked Sonny – Sonny Stitt

The Three Sounds: Feelin’ Good

In September 1962, “Blue Note” label released “Feelin’ Good”, the eight Three Sounds (The) album. It was recorded in June 1960, at “Van Gelder Studio” in Englewood Cliffs, New jersey, and was produced by Alfred Lion.

Personnel:

  • Gene Harris – piano
  • Andrew Simpkins – bass
  • Bill Dowdy – drums
  • Rudy Van Gelder – recording
  • Reid Miles – design
  • Francis Wolff – photography
  • Barbara J. Gardner – liner notes

Track listing:

  1. When I Fall in Love – Edward Heyman, Victor Young
  2. Parker’s Pad – Gene Harris
  3. Blues After Dark – Benny Golson
  4. I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good) – Duke Ellington
  5. Straight, No Chaser – Thelonious Monk
  6. I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart – Duke Ellington, Irving Mills
  7. It Could Happen to You – Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen
  8. Two Bass Hit – John Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie

Larry Graham & the Graham Central Station: My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me

In May 1978, “Warner Bros” label released “My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me”, the sixth Larry Graham & Graham Central Station (the first by the name Larry Graham & Graham Central Station as opposed to Graham Central Station). It was recorded in 1978, and was produced by Benny Golson and Larry Graham.

Personnel:

  • Larry Graham – lead and backing vocals, bass, clavinet, guitar
  • Gemi Taylor – guitar
  • Nate Ginsberg – keyboards
  • Gaylord “Flash” Birch – drums
  • Robert “Butch” Sam – keyboards, organ, piano, backing vocals
  • Tina Graham – backing vocals

Track listing:

 All tracks by Larry Graham.

  1. Pow
  2. My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me
  3. Is It Love?
  4. Boogie Witcha, Baby
  5. It’s The Engine in Me
  6. Turn It Out
  7. Mr. Friend
  8. Are You Happy?

Charles Mingus: Mingus Dynasty

In May 1960, “Columbia” label released “Mingus Dynasty”, the 18th Charles Mingus album. It was recorded in November 1959, at “CBS 30th Street Studio” in New York City, and was produced by Teo Macero. In 1999, the album was inducted in the “Grammy Hall of Fame”.

Personnel:

  • Charles Mingus – bass
  • John Handy – alto sax
  • Booker Ervin – tenor sax
  • Benny Golson – tenor sax
  • Jerome Richardson – baritone sax, flute
  • Richard Williams – trumpet
  • Don Ellis – trumpet
  • Jimmy Knepper – trombone
  • Roland Hanna – piano
  • Nico Bunink – piano
  • Dannie Richmond – drums
  • Teddy Charles – vibes
  • Maurice Brown – cello
  • Seymour Barab – cello
  • Honi Gordon – vocals

Track listing:

All tracks by Charles Mingus, except where noted.                         

  1. Slop
  2. Diane
  3. Song with Orange
  4. Gunslinging Bird (originally titled If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats) 
  5. Things Ain’t What They Used to Be – Mercer Ellington
  6. Far Wells, Mill Valley
  7. New Now Know How
  8. Mood Indigo – Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington
  9. Put Me in That Dungeon

Ray Charles: My Kind of Jazz

In April 1970, “Tangerine” label released “My Kind of Jazz”, the 29th Ray Charles album. It was recorded in January 1970, at “RPM Studios” in Los Angeles, and was produced by Quincy Jones.

Personnel:

  • Ray Charles – vocal, piano
  • Ben Martin – guitar
  • Edgar Willis – bass
  • Ernest Elly – drums
  • J. Lloyd Miller – alto saxophone, oboe
  • Curtis Peagler – alto saxophone
  • Andy Ennis, Albert McQueen, Clifford Scott – tenor saxophone
  • Leroy Cooper – baritone saxophone
  • Bobby Bryant, Bill King, Marshall Hunt, Blue Mitchell – trumpet
  • Glen Childress, Henry Coker, Joe Randazzo – trombone
  • Teddy Edwards – arranger

Track listing:

  1. Golden Boy – Charles Strouse, Lee Adams
  2. Booty Butt – Ray Charles
  3. This Here – Bobby Timmons
  4. I Remember Clifford – Benny Golson
  5. Sidewinder – Lee Morgan
  6. Bluesette – Toots Thielemans
  7. Pas–Se–O–Ne Blues – John Anderson
  8. Zig Zag – Bill Baker
  9. Angel City – Teddy Edwards
  10. Señor Blues – Horace Silver

Wayne Shorter

On March 2, 2023, Wayne Shorter died aged 89. He was musician (saxophone) and composer. He was member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and  Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the band Weather Report. Many of the Shorter’s compositions have become jazz standards and his work earned critical praise worldwide. In 1970, he won “Down Beat’s” annual poll-winner, winning the critics’ poll for 10 consecutive years and the readers’ poll for 18 consecutive years. Shorter recorded and performed with Donald Byrd, Billy Childs, Pino Daniele, Lou Donaldson, Benny Golson, Gil Evans, Toninho Horta, Norah Jones, J. J. Johnson, Don Henley, Wynton Kelly, Michael Landau, Lionel Loueke, Grachan Moncur III, Milton Nascimento, Michel Petrucciani, The Rolling Stones, Masahiko Satoh, John Scofield, Esperanza Spalding, Steely Dan, Bobby Timmons, Kazumi Watanabe, Buster Williams, Herbie Hacock, Tony Williams, Joe Zawinul, Freddie Hubbard, Joni Mitchell, Lee Morgan, Jaco Pastorius, Carlos Santana and McCoy Tyner. In 2008, “The New York Times” described Shorter as “probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser”. In 2017, he was awarded the “Polar Music Prize”. As leader, Shorter released 28 albums.

Wes Montgomery: Wes Montgomery Trio

In March 1960, “Riverside” label released “The Wes Montgomery Trio”, the debut Wes Montgomery studio album. It was recorded in October 1959, at “Reeves Sound Studios” in New York City, and was produced by Orrin Keepnews.

Track listing:

  • Wes Montgomery – guitar
  • Melvin Rhyne – organ
  • Paul Parker – drums
  • Jack Higgins – engineer
  • Harris Lewine – design
  • Ken Braren – design
  • Paul Bacon – design

Track listing:

  1. ‘Round Midnight – Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams
  2. Yesterdays – Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern
  3. The End of a Love Affair – Edward Redding
  4. Whisper Not – Benny Golson
  5. Ecaroh – Horace Silver
  6. Satin Doll – Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Billy Strayhorn
  7. Missile Blues – Wes Montgomery
  8. Too Late Now – Burton Lane, Alan Jay Lerner
  9. Jingles – Wes Montgomery

Jackie McLean: Swing, Swang, Swingin’

In March 1960, “Blue Note” label released “Swing, Swang, Swingin’, the 16th Jackie McLean album. It was recorded in October 1959, at “Van Gelder Studio” in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and was produced Alfred Lion.

Personnel:

  • Jackie McLean – alto saxophone
  • Walter Bishop Jr. – piano
  • Jimmy Garrison – bass
  • Art Taylor – drums
  • Reid Miles – design
  • Ira Gitler – liner notes

Track listing:

All tracks by Jackie McLean, except where noted.

  1. What’s New? – Johnny Burke, Bob Haggart
  2. Let’s Face the Music and Dance – Irving Berlin
  3. Stablemates – Benny Golson
  4. I Remember You – Johnny Mercer, Victor Schertzinger
  5. I Love You – Cole Porter
  6. I’ll Take Romance – Oscar Hammerstein II, Ben Oakland
  7. 116th and Lenox