A Tribute to Benny Golson

Mr. Benny Golson was born January 25, 1929 In Philadelphia, PA. He is an American bebop/hardbop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger. Early on he wrote for the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1959 he co-founded and co-lead the Jazztet with trumpeter Art Farmer. From the late 1960's through the 1970's Mr Golson was in demand as an arranger for film and television. In 1982 he reformed the Jazztet and was again active as a performer. Many of his compositions have become classic jazz standards. In 1996 Mr. Golson received the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He has received many more awards, including an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee College of Music in 1999.

Program

1. Along Came Betty
2. Blues March
3. Fair Weather
4. I Remember Clifford
5. Stablemates
6. Whisper Not

All compositions by Benny Golson

Brandon Vazquez, a native New Yorker, is both a classical and jazz musician. Mr. Vazquez, who began playing the trumpet at age twelve, attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art; he also studied at the Juilliard School, Bloomingdale School of Music, and at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. His primary teachers include Mark Niehaus, Mary Hastings, Michael Phillip Mossman, and Bud Burridge. As a freelance trumpeter, Brandon has performed with a number of jazz and classical ensembles throughout New York City, including Regal Brass, the Hunter Symphony, Ron Carter Jazztet, and Man Bite Dog. Along with his brass quintet Regal Brass, Brandon has performed the National Anthem twice at both Madison Square Garden and at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Brandon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Hunter College. A former instructor at the Grand Street Campus High Schools in Brooklyn, Brandon is currently on the faculty of the Bloomingdale School of Music.

Calvin Hill, bassist, was born and raised in Bridgeport CT. He started playing music at age ten. He played the trumpet and saxophone in the school band. In high school he switched to the double bass. Encouraged by an older friend, Calvin enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. There he received a degree in music education and studied bass with William Curtis.

Calvin’s first professional experiences were playing on the Boston music scene. Hill was regularly seen in the area’s nightclubs and concert halls. He played with many artists including Billy Eckstine, Mel Torme, Mose Allison, Joanne Brackeen, and John Lee Hooker.

In 1969, Calvin was asked to join the quartet of the great McCoy Tyner. He moved to NYC and recorded two albums with Tyner’s quartet. Since moving to New York, Calvin has been a member of the groups of Max Roach, Pharoh Sanders, Betty Carter, George Coleman, Junior Mance, Chet Baker, James Moody, and Sonny Fortune. Hill has toured extensively in Europe and Japan, performing in concert venues, films, and radio and tv.

Presently, Calvin Hill is playing with his own quartet and with many musicians in the New York area.

Equally at home in a variety of styles from the traditional to the avant-garde, for over fifteen years trumpeter Eli Asher has found most constant expression in The Respect Sextet. Respect seamlessly blends music of innumerable idioms and conceptual approaches with unscripted improvisation, experimentation and unbridled hilarity, earning raves from Newsweek, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, who called Respect "ambitious music with a smart-alecky affect, ranging broadly from the antic to the deadpan". He has also performed with the Bjorkestra, Bang on a Can's Asphalt Orchestra, Tilt Brass, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, The Gregory Brothers, Signal Ensemble, Slavic Soul Party!, and Jose Gonzalez. Currently he can be heard with Patrick Brennan’s Transparency Kestra, the Open Tabs, The Chip White Sextet, The Eli Asher/Aaron Shragge Duo, Jump Off This Bridge, and Max Kutner’s Trio Generale, as well as on over 25 recordings.

Alto and soprano saxophonist Joe Ford also lists composer, arranger and music educator as part of his diverse musical experiences. He has performed with a wide spectrum of genres from small group ensembles to orchestras and big bands. His collaboration with Lines Of Reason has proven to be both rewarding and exciting.

MICHAEL COCHRANE, pianist, composer, arranger and instructor was born and raised in Peekskill, NY. He has resided in the tri-state area since the fall of 1974. Mr. Cochrane has performed and/or recorded with: Sonny Fortune, Hannibal, Jack Walrath, Eddie Gomez, Valery Ponomorev, Paul Nash, John Clark, Clark Terry, Michael Brecker, Chico Freeman, Galen Abdur Razzaq, The Spirit Of Life Ensemble, Ted Curson, Oliver Lake, Bradford Hayes, Nancy Monroe, and many more. Mr. Cochrane has performed in colleges, clubs, and concert halls which have included: The Village Vanguard, Sweet Rhythms, Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tulley Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City. NJ Pac, The Priory, Duke’s Southern Table, Gateway Two, Hotel Indigo and Rutgers U. in Newark, NJ. His touring experience spans many European countries as well as Canada, Japan, Puerto Rico, the Phillippines and the Caribbean.

In 1985 Mr. Cochrane received a Master Of Arts Degree with honors from New York University. He was a part-time instructor at NYU for twenty years. Currently Mr. Cochrane is a part-time instructor at Princeton University, Rutgers University, Bloomingdale School of Music and the JCC Thurnauer School of Music. His teachers have included: Jaki Byard, Eleanor Hancock and the late Madame Margaret Chalof. Mr. Cochrane has recorded over fifteen CDs as a leader. He currently resides in NJ. For more information visit his website at: www.michaelcochrane.com

For over three decades, drummer Steve Johns has been a major presence on the jazz scene, collaborating with many of the music’s most renowned practitioners. Artists from all points on the musical spectrum have consistently sought him out because they know his musicianship, versatility, deep commitment to his craft, and enthuaism will enrich any performance. Leaders such as Nat Adderley, Stanley Turrentine, Larry Coryell, Randy Brecker, Ronnie Cuber, Jimmy Owens, Dr. Billy Taylor, Benny Carter, and Sonny Fortune appreciated the fact that, no matter what the gig, from the world’s greatest concert stages to the smallest clubs, Steve brings the same total commitment, utmost professionalism, and pure joy at making music. He is also a total musician, who continues to expand his musical horizons by studying piano and trumpet.

Steve Johns was born into a musical family in Boston in 1960, and began playing drums at the age of nine. His mother, Goldie Tyler Johns, was a songwriter, and three of her brothers were saxophonists, including the legendary Jimmy Tyler, who was Steve’s primary influence and inspiration. It was Jimmy who encouraged the youngster to study formally Alan Dawson, and his three years with the master percussionist and educator enabled him to make rapid progress. While attending Natick High School, Steve played in both the concert and jazz bands and earned chairs in both the district and state jazz ensembles. After graduating in 1979, Steve continued his studies at the New England Conservatory of Music where he received a thorough grounding in classical percussion from Vic Firth and Fred Buda, while playing with such local jazz greats as James Williams, Miroslav Vituous, Jeff Berlin, and Mike Stern. At NEC he met his wife-to-be, Debbie Keefe Johns, a fine saxophonist in her own right. In 1982, Steve made the move to New York quickly establishing himself as an inspirational player at home in any musical style. Over the ensuing three decades, Steve has worked in every conceivable setting, from big bands such as the Gil Evans and the Count Basie orchestras, to accompanying singers like Jessye Norman, Helen Merrill, Diane Schuur, and Dakota Staton, to more experimental settings such as the Thomas Chapin Trio. He has toured worldwide as the regular drummer for Sonny Fortune, Benny Carter, Dr Billy Taylor, and many other luminaries. His three-year tenure as a member of Taylor’s trio brought him wide exposure, including 75 performances for the pianist’s NPR program Jazz at the Kennedy Center with such guests as Wynton Marsalis, Nancy Wilson, Milt Jackson, and Randy Brecker.

Steve has appeared on over sixty albums by Leon Thomas, George Russell, Thomas Chapin, Dr. Billy Taylor, Houston Person, John McNeil, Sonny Fortune, Peter Leitch, Gary Smulyan, and Bob DeVos, among many others. In addition to his work as a sideman, Steve is also a member of the collective group Native Soul, and has been co-leader on recording projects by that group (Soul Step, 2008, Talking Drum Records), as well as on an album with saxophonist Peter Brainin (No Saints, No Sinners, 2000, Playscape).

In addition to his extensive credits as a player, Steve has long been active as an educator. While with the Billy Taylor Trio, he took part in over a hundred lecture/demonstrations throughout the U.S., and has regularly served on the faculty for educational programs at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Long Island University, Montclair State University, the Litchfield Jazz Camp, the Vermont Jazz Center, and Jazz House Kids.

Steve and Debbie’s musical talents have been passed directly to a new generation; their son, bassist Daryl Johns, while still a teenager, has already made his mark as one of the most highly touted musicians to burst onto the scene in recent years. A highlight of Steve’s career was the 2015 release of his CD aptly titled Family, on which Steve, Debbie, and Daryl were joined by guitarists Dave Stryker and Bob DeVos.

The consummate team player, Steve Johns has always managed to retain his own singular sound and distinctive musical persona while serving the common purpose of any group he is with. "One thing I love about jazz is having the freedom to express your own style," he told once told Star Ledger jazz writer Zan Stewart. "I knew from a young age you have to have your own voice."

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Bloomingdale School of Music, 323 W 108th Street, New York, United States