Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 2 Feb 2003 7:28 pm |
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Last night I had the distinct pleasure of sitting in the second row for a small-venue 3 hour concert by the Benny Golson Quartet. Man! Not only is Golson a fabulous tenor player (who happens to hail from Philly, like so many other jazz greats), but he regaled us with stories from his life, so that it was like attending an illustrated biography of Benny Golson. He related how he and 13-year old John Coltrane used to jam together at his house, and how Coltrane finally got a gig with Miles Davis, and carried along one of Golson's compositions for Miles to hear, and how Miles dug it and recorded it within just a few months. So many great stories of touring with Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. He played many of his greatest tunes, "Along Came Betty", "I Remember Clifford", "Whisper Not", and of course, as an encore, "Killer Joe". Each song was introduced with a fascinating story about its origins. My son, who's 13 now and getting to be a pretty good alto sax player, sat in the first row, transfixed the whole evening.
The sidemen were top-shelf Philly guys, including, I'm proud to say, Dan Kleiman, who is the keyboardist with whom I recorded "Finally Here" and with whom I'm now in the process of recording my second solo CD. Just an awesome night. Wish you'd been there.
Jimbeaux |
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