Saxophonist is hooked

Press, 16 September 1987, Page 3

Saxophonist is hooked

CHRISTOPHER MOORE

By

For the man and the moulded metallic object it has been a love affair lasting 40 years, a relationship marked by separations and reunions, misunderstandings and harmony, laughter and sadness. Fortunately for his audiences and admirers, Benny Golson’s relationship with the saxophone has abided. Yesterday, the legendary jazz musician, composer and arranger considered his long career shortly after arriving in Christchurch during a New Zealand tour. The other members of the Benny Golson AllStars band were elsewhere watching gridiron football. Benny Golson, once described as the complete jazz musician, was in a mellow mood. Born in 1929 in Philadelphia, he began studying the piano at the age of nine. At 14, he glimpsed his first saxophone. It was love at first note. “I went to a live stage show. The curtains parted and there was the band with the lights reflecting off the instruments and everyone having a good time. The sight and sound of that evening never left me. I was fascinated by the saxophone ... this large thing with a curve in the middle, this thing called a tenor sax. I wanted to play one.”

It was the era of the Big Band and big names such as Dorsey, Miller, and Goodman. The young Golson, unable to buy a saxophone spent his evenings listening to the radio broadcasts of the band shows, waiting to play the first sounds on the instrument he coveted.

Daydreams became

reality when his mother presented him with his first saxophone. "I opened the case and saw that I had a problem. I didn’t know how to put the thing together. We went to a friend who knew how to assemble it. Then I discovered problem number two — I couldn’t play the saxophone apart from producing some squawks which sounded like a chicken. “But I found a teacher — my only teacher — and began learning.” He was a good student. Three years in university were followed by a return to Philadelphia and the Bullmoose Jackson Rhythm and Blues Band. The years which followed included close associations with jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Mingus, Freddie Hubbard and Philly Joe Jones. The youngster matured into an internationally respected musician and composer, the winner of prestigious jazz awards and the musical arranger for Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Oscar Peterson and Diana Ross.

Here, according to music critics, was a man destined to coolly coax sensual, sophisticated, gently insidious notes from a tenor sax — sounds which have delighted audiences for four decades. The Golson sound remains distinctive. His first New Zealand visit will be followed by an extensive tour of South-East Asia.

“It’s more of a vocation than when I first began. The thoughts of being successful somehow didn’t matter then. The primary reason behind it all was to play jazz and learn.

“Then I didn’t like what b

I was playing, so 1 stopped. Closed the lid of the saxophone case and began composing music for films. I went into a noman’s land where people said ‘Benny Who?’ and immediately wanted to label you.” His first assignment was to compose period music for a William Holden film “The Devil’s Brigade.” Then there was source music — the Hollywood buzzword for background music.

“If a guy goes into a room to kill someone and there’s a record player playing in the background — that’s source music,” Golson explained. He wrote incidental music for the television series “M.A.5.H.,” an association which he recalled with fondness.

But deep down remained the desire to be reunited with jazz. The tenor sax was ticking away like a metronome. “I never opened that saxophone case for seven, eight years. Then I got the itch — despite a feeling that it would take some, time to get back into shape. But after an open air concert in California, I was on stage and playing again.

“Thankfully, I never sold my saxophone.” Today, alongside Curtis Fuller (trombone), Billy Hart (drums), Mickey Tucker (piano) and Ray Drummond (bass), Benny Golson is producing the cool, polished and rippling tones of contemporary jazz. But the memory of that first sight of the tenor saxophone in full cry on a Philadelphia stage has not faded for Golson.

“The memory of that first lick and taste of an ice cream cone remains with you for the rest of your life.”