Benny Golson

The well-known Philadelphia-born jazz saxophonist Benny Golson rose to fame through writing and arranging scores for the likes of jazz bandleaders Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie during the 1950s. In 1959 Golson decided to launch his solo career as a performer and created The Jazztet with trumpeter Art Farmer. The Jazztet has had two distinct phases, these being its original incarnation in the early 1960s and the subsequent reunion which took place in the 1980s. The band split up in 1962 for a variety of reasons with the various members staying on good terms with each other.

Several of the original band's compositions have gone on to become jazz standards including 'Blues March', 'Killer Joe' and 'I Remember Clifford'. Golson went on to pursue a successful career as a composer and arranger for the rapidly increasing world of television and his work featured in shows such as 'M*A*S*H', 'The Partridge Family', 'Ironside', 'Mission: Impossible' and many others. In 2009 Golson was inducted into The International Academy of Jazz Hall of Fame.