Slide Show
Benny is back and as usual, he is the ultimate gentleman. His rapport with the crowd is unparalleled. This master legend has always made everyone that has ever witnessed his live performance feel loved and appreciated for supporting the music. Benny makes music feel like family!
Benny is the supreme prolific storyteller and tonight he tells the story of how “Along Came Betty” came into existence. Betty was many moons ago the apple of Benny’s eye but, that was then, Bobbie is Benny’s wonderful wife now so don’t make that famous mistake. Benny’s playing is as sweet as his persona, which is as sweet as his sound. There is no fire or fierce acrobatics; Benny just gives you the richness of his melodies, the pureness of his sound and the grandeur of his classic compositions.
Time has been good to Benny in many ways. He is the master of his instrument, he is charming and elegant, always a positive inspiration and full of joy and all of these things he bestows upon us as gifts to us to go out in the world and continue the blessing. If you wonder why you hear Benny playing all of these standards it’s because he is the one who wrote them. He literally is the standard by which many a jazz musicians structure their sets. Benny is the real book not the fake book!
Everyone wants to know the story of “Killer Joe” and to our surprise we learn that Killer is an amalgamation of many of slick hustler types that used to come into the clubs back in the day; plenty of money, immaculate dress, a lady on each arm and never worked a day in his life. Benny said that there was always one in each town and chances are that you may even know one today. Benny would always see these cats as he was up on the bandstand playing and decided to dedicate a tune just for all the Joes.
It is quite amazing to listen to so many standards composed by the same artist who was instrumental in their inception. He is still stronger than ever and plays with just as much class and even toned cool pizzazz as he did back when the songs were just were just works in progress. Even the way Benny holds his horn when he is off stage listening to the rhythm section do their thing is cool! This picture is not quite a compliment to a Francis Wolf black and white photo but, close your eyes, add some smoke and imagine. Benny is the picturesque embodiment of a jazz musical success; living and playing on the creativity from within; an organic 401k that pays big dividends. A man who, through clean living, positive attitudes and a dedication to composition and classic sound has become the living landmark for respect, integrity and the standard from which many learn and are introduced to the music.
Benny used to be great friends with John Coltrane and they used to go and check out Charlie Parker and Dizzy when they were young. They would run up and carry their horns into the club just so they could witness the sound that they were so used to hearing from the not so comfortable perch outside the windows of the establishment. They would ask questions about what mouthpiece to use and what brand of horn they played on. Each of the cats would go home and practice and they just knew with the purchase of such items that they too could play like that. After practicing intensely for quite sometime, they would call each other only to find out that the new items did not magically reproduce those sounds. As he ponders on about his great friend John, he dedicates the next tune to him, “Mr. P.C.”
Benny Golson, the man with the stories, the standards and a love for the music that has served us all extremely well.
LeRoy Downs
