Benny Golson’s Songs

“In my experience of some thirty years of writing about and recording musicians, Benny Golson stands out as a man whose musical skills and capacities are extraordinarily wide-ranging. He is consistently resourceful in terms of creativity, as well as being a thorough professional. His conscientiousness, the high standards he always sets for himself, and his total reliability are qualities that account for the prominence he has attained – along with, of course, his prodigious musicianship as a composer, arranger and performer. Benny Golson continually impresses me with the freshness of his musical conceptions. But I am never surprised that they always work exactly as he says they will, because they always do.”
-John S Wilson, Jazz Critic, The New York Times

This January, one of our favorite artists, Benny Golson is turning 95 years old. Multi-talented and internationally famous jazz legend, – a composer, arranger, lyricist, producer – and tenor saxophonist of world note, Benny Golson was born in Philadelphia, PA on January 25, 1929. Raised with an impeccable musical pedigree, Golson has played in the bands of world famous Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Earl Bostic and Art Blakey. Bob Karcy, Arkadia’s founder and CEO, had a great privilege of working with Benny on a number of recordings. He got to know Benny Golson not only as an accomplished musician but also a wonderful human being

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BENNY GOLSON – COMPOSER, ARRANGER, AND PERFORMING ARTIST

Benny Golson is the only living jazz artist to have written 8 standards for jazz repertoire. These jazz standards have found their way into countless recordings internationally over the years and are still being recorded.

He has recorded over 30 albums, including six for Arkadia Records, in the United States and Europe under his own name and innumerable ones with other major artists.

Golson has composed and arranged music for artists from a diverse array of musical genres from Classical to pop. He worked with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Itzhak Perlman, Diana Ross, Dusty Springfield, and others.

His prolific writing includes scores for hit TV series and films such as: “M*A*S*H”, “Mannix”, “Mission Impossible”, “Mod Squad”, “Room 222”, “Run for Your Life”, “The Partridge Family”, “The Academy Awards”, and “The Karen Valentine Show”, Television specials for ABC, CBS and NBC. Television specials for BBC in London and Copenhagen, Denmark. Theme for Bill Cosby’s last TV show, and A french film ‘Des Femmes Disparaissent” (Paris).

He has written music for national radio and television spots for some of the major advertising agencies in the country. Some of these commercials were for: Borateem, Canada Dry, Carnation, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Clorox, Dodge, General Telephone, Gillette, Heinz Foods, Jack in The Box, Liquid Plum’r, MacDonald’s, Mattel Toys, Monsanto, Nissan, Ohrbachs, Ore-Ida Frozen Potatoes, Parliament Cigarettes, Pepsi Cola, and Texaco.

Benny Golson’s Songs

BENNY GOLSON – COMPOSER, ARRANGER, AND PERFORMING ARTIST

T.K. Blue’s Music submitted for GRAMMY® Consideration