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For more than fifty years, Benny Golson has made scores of recordings and composed and arranged for such artists as Count Basie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie. A prolific and renowned composer, he has written such widely-known standards for the jazz repertoire as "Killer Joe" (popularized in a hit recording by Quincy Jones), "I Remember Clifford" (set to choreography in 1995 by Twyla Tharp and performed by her company), "Stablemates," "Whisper Not," "Blues March," "Five Spot After Dark," and "Are you Real?". Golson's prolific writing career also includes scores for hit TV series and films, including M*A*S*H; the theme of Bill Cosby's last show; as well as Mannix, Mission Impossible, Mod Squad, Room 222, the Academy Awards, and specials for ABC, CBS and NBC networks, and the BBC. He has also written national radio and television spots for major American advertising agencies.
Born in Philadelphia in 1929, Golson played in the bands of Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and Earl Bostic. His also served as Music Director with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and co-led Jazztet with flugelhornist Art Farmer; both ensembles were milestones of the late Hard Bop period. Golson's honors are many; he was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1995 and received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 1996. He has received honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and William Patterson College. In 1999 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for his performance of "Body and Soul" on his CD Tenor Legacy.
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