Groovin' With Benny Golson

Benny Golson (sax; b. 1929)

Benny Golson's (saxophone) new release, The Best Of Benny Golson (Concord Music Group), is a compilation of material spanning his career with the Milestones, Concord, Prestige and OJC labels. Born in Philadelphia in 1929, Golson worked in early R&B outfits in the '50s to before becoming a member in both Dizzy Gillespie's and Art Blakey's band in the late '50s. He would later go on to formed The Jazztet with Art Farmer.

He has worked with almost every major bebop musician of the era. Benny Golson's own work is powerful yet very inviting. He has written a number of now standards for jazz musicians including "Stablemates," "Along Came Betty," and "Killer Joe" to name just a few. Many people may be more familiar with his work from the film The Terminal staring Tom Hanks and directed by Steve Spielberg. Benny Golson and his band performed in lounge bar of the airport. This brought new awareness of Benny's material and he has since toured consistently again.

Whenever he performs live I try to get as many people who are new jazz to experience his shows. Benny Golson is probably the best intro for people who are unfamiliar with jazz and all its beauty. There will be songs that are very recognizable to you on this collection, including "April In Paris," "Whisper Not," and "I Didn't Know What Time It Was". If you enjoy the saxophone and want to hear a true musician at the peak of his power, check out The Best Of Benny Golson. I believe you will enjoy immensely.

Tune in Saturday for some Sexy Movie Grooves

Kristopher Spencer, author of Film and Television Scores, 1950-1979, and JazzWrap contributor, will discuss jazzy sexploitation soundtracks with Scott Greenberg, host of WGWG radio's "Debts No Honest Man Can Pay". They'll play selections by John Barry, Gato Barbieri, Piero Umiliani and more.

The show starts @ 10am EST.
The interrogation begins @ 11am EST.

Listen online @ www.wgwg.org.

Alex Chilton: We Will Miss You

Alex Chilton (guitar, b. 1950 - 2010)

While this blog is about jazz, ever once in a while you have to mention the music that is truly dear to you. This week the music world lost a legend. Alex Chilton's voice and lyrics were the light and soundtrack for generations. Alex Chilton was the founding member of not just one band influential band but two. He started his career in his teens with the late sixties outfit The Box Tops and in the seventies he formed Big Star.

Most people may not know Big Star but you know their songs and the influence. With them you may not get R.E.M., The Replacements, Wilco, Teenage Fanclub, Jeff Buckley and countless other mellow guitar bands. The band recorded 4 highly influential albums and have become the benchmark for the aforementioned bands and continues to be the blueprint on how it should be done. The songs "September Guurls" and "Kangaroo" have been cover by numerous musicians (Kangaroo by Buckley and This Mortal Coil famously in recent decades). I personally got into Big Star by a high school friend while hanging out at their house. He played the vinyl of #1 Album and from that point on I was hooked. Alex Chilton's and Chris Bells sweet melodies captured my childhood years as much as Chilton's solo work did for the rest of my life. Today is a sad sad day indeed. Love Live Big Star. Long Live Alex Chilton.

The Intersection: Galliano

The Intersection is an ongoing feature on JazzWrap that looks at artists that have blended jazz in new and highly creative ways.

Galliano (group; formed 1988)

This rag-tag collective is probably one of the most underrated of the Acid Jazz movement during the early '90s (along with Mother Earth and Emperors New Clothes). The group was more spiritual, political and earthy than their funky contemporaries like the globe trotting Jamiraoqui and Brand New Heavies. Galliano had a beautiful mixture of Beat Generation poetry, African rhythms, Roy Ayers soulfulness and Pharoah Sanders forward thinking approach to the sky (so to speak).

Galliano was led by DJ turned musician Rob Gallagher and featured the raspy sexy vocals of underground legend Valerie Etienne, and delivered four phenomenal albums from 91 - 96. Each was built around a swirling jazzy soul motif and infectious trip hop grooves. In listening to these albums again over the last couple of days before writing this entry I realized they all hold up amazingly well as most of the Acid Jazz titles have done. Very surprising for this short lived movement.

While I think all the albums are necessary, if you can only find A Joyful Noise Unto The Creator and The Plot Thickens (both on Talkin' Loud) you would have the real essence of what the band was all about. A Joyful Noise Unto The Creator features some of the early roots for the Acid Jazz movement including the really funky "Skunk Funk," and the beauty "Prince Of Peace" which you'll find playing over and over again. The Plot Thickens was the big breakthrough for the band. It included "Long Time Gone," "Twyford Downs," and "Blood Lines," all real winners in the Acid Jazz soul playbook. Galliano, while feeling like a collective, was definitely a band with the strong use of live instruments.

On their fourth and final album, 4 (Talkin' Loud) they began to incorporate electronics (maybe due to the success of Massive Attack's Protection). That's not to say it's a bad record, its actually quite good and was the platform for the next band that Gallagher would form, Two Banks Of Four which has put out three incredible albums that if you can find them are worth buying no matter the price. There were a myriad of bands during the Acid Jazz era--most were quite good but didn't receive the mass acceptance that the two bands mentioned in the beginning of this entry, but if you haven't investigated the Acid Jazz era, Galliano are great place to start.