While there is a surfeit of tenor sax players who made an impact in the hard bop era of the 1950s-60s, few were masters of both the sword of the sax and the mighty pen of composition. One such man was the recently departed Benny Golson, who was not only the sax man for some incredibly important groups, but who also composed some of jazz’s most important compositions, as this four disc collection of eight of his swinging albums displays.
Growing up with childhood friend John Coltrane, Golson had a similar tone in the early years, slowly imbibing some aspects of Coltrane’s ideas later on. The first two albums here are from 1959, the first one with the rhythm team of Ray Bryant/p, Paul Chambers/b and ex –boss Art Blakey/dr, focusing on blues like “The Stroller” and throwing in some hip ballads like “Yesterdays”. The same year has him in another hard bop setting with a couple originals like “Tippin’ On Thru” as well as standards such as “April In Paris” as Golson solos with Tommy Flanagan/p, Curtis Fuller/tb, Doug Watkins/b and Art Taylor/dr. Golson the releases a couple of quartet albums with Wynton Kelly-Flanagan/p, Ron Carter-Chambers/b and Jimmy Cobb-Taylor/dr almost completely eschewing his pen for some great reads on “The Masquerade Is Over” and My Romance”.
Golson then does a complete turnaround in 1964, heading to Stockholm for a big band album that features some of his best compositions in “I Remember Clifford” and “Are You Real?”. In 1960, Golson forms his classic band the Jazztet with Art Farmer/tp, Curtis Fuller, McCoy Tyner/p, Addison Farmer/b and Lex Humphries/dr for his definitive album, bubbling over with hip small group reads of “I Remember Clifford”, “Blues March” and the definitive hip tune, “Killer Joe”. A few band changes that year result in a swinging band with Golson shining on “Hi-Fly” and a reunion of the Jazztet with John Lewis on piano focus on the pianists songbook with a sleek “Django” and “Milano”. Golson’s ax and pen display the high water mark of hard bop, mixing pulse, passion and poetry perfectly