Benny Golson, a tenor saxophonist and composer who played with some of the biggest names in jazz and was a founder of one of the leading groups of the hard bop era, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. He was 95.
Jason Franklin, his agent for more than 25 years, confirmed the death.
Mr. Golson was a rarity in jazz: a highly accomplished musician who was also sought after as a composer. Indeed, he later had a flourishing second career writing and arranging music for television shows.
A number of his compositions are regarded as jazz standards, among them “I Remember Clifford” (written in memory of the trumpeter Clifford Brown, shortly after he died in a car accident in 1956), “Whisper Not,” “Blues March” and “Killer Joe.” Quincy Jones recorded a memorable version of “Killer Joe” in 1969, and Miles Davis recorded “Stablemates,” which Mr. Golson wrote after John Coltrane, a close friend, told him that Mr. Davis had been looking for new material.
Mr. Golson wrote or co-wrote four of the six tracks on “Moanin’,” a celebrated 1958 album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. All five of the tunes on the trumpeter Lee Morgan’s 1957 album “Lee Morgan, Vol. 3” were written by Mr. Golson.
Asked whether he preferred composing or playing, Mr. Golson once replied: “It’s like having two wives. I’m a musical bigamist. I can’t decide, so I just go on with both of them.”
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