Jazz Program
Press release: Jazz Composer/Saxophonist Benny Golson In Residence
JAZZ COMPOSER/SAXOPHONIST BENNY GOLSON IN RESIDENCE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
For the 31st year the Office for the Arts collaborated with the Harvard Jazz Bands to honor distinguished artists in jazz. In the spring semester composer/saxophonist Benny Golson was celebrated with “Along Came Benny” (an artist residency named after his famed composition “Along Came Betty”). 
Benny Golson first visited Harvard in January, when he rehearsed with undergraduates in the Monday and Sunday Jazz Bands, and visited with students in the Department of Music to advise them on the creation ofnew compositions.
In April, Golson returned to Harvard. In addition to being feted by jazz journalists, and faculty, staff, and students from Harvard, Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, and other area schools and universities, he met with high school students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and journalist Fellows at the Nieman Foundation. He met again with students in the Music Department to comment on their final compositions. On Thursday, April 17 he discussed his career at a Learning From Performers event at the New College Theatre. Moderated by Steve Schwartz, host of WGBH-FM's "Live From Studio Four, this event was free and open to the public.
Golson was joined by guest pianist Mulgrew Miller and the Harvard Jazz Bands for a special matinee concert on Saturday, April 19, at 4 pm in Sanders Theatre.
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?” “During the transitional period of the late 1950s and early1960s,” says Director of Bands Tom Everett, “Benny produced an oeuvre of jazz compositions that masterfully bridged the lyrical quality and structure of the traditional popular American song, with the harmonic content that challenged, and was revered by, the improvising musician. No other individual produced a body of work during that time that has become such a significant part of the jazz repertoire.”
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, “Mannix,” “Mission Impossible,” “Mod Squad,” “Room 222,” The Academy Awards, and specials for ABC, CBS and NBC networks, as well as 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 flugel hornist Art Farmer; both ensembles were milestones of the late Hard Bop period. As a performer, “Benny’s tenor playing is often overlooked,” says Tom Everett, “whether because it is overshadowed by his acclaimed writing talent or his admiration for the earlier tenor giant Ben Webster (versus the more often emulated John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins). Benny forged his own warm mellow identifiable sound. He has maintained a remarkably high and diverse standard of creativity.”
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 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”.
Mulgrew Miller has been cited by the venerable Hank Jones (2005 Harvard Jazz Artist) as one of his favorite pianists. “Miller is one of the most versatile pianists on the scene today, says Everett. “He was Benny’s personal choice to accompany him on this tribute program.” With over 400 recordings as a leader and sideman, Miller is, wrote Bob Blumenthal “perhaps the leading pianist of his generation.”
Born and raised in Mississippi, Miller arrived in New York in 1977 with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He is a member of the Contemporary Piano Ensemble—four pianists performing on four grand pianos with a rhythm section—and tours with his own trio, and his quintet “Wingspan.” His first live recording “Live at Yoshi’s” was issued in 2004.
For more information, please contact Tom Everett (617.496.BAND, everett@fas.harvard.edu) or OFA Director of Programs Cathy McCormick (617.495.8676 or cathleen_mccormick@harvard.edu).
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Jazz Concert 2008: Along Came Benny | Program
Geri Allen in Residence at Harvard, December 2007
Jazz Concert 2007: The Afro-Cuban Connection | Program (1.5 MB)
Jazz Concert 2006: In the Spirit of Duke | Program (1.4 MB)
Jazz Concert 2005: Hank Jones | Program
Jazz Concert 2004: Music of Jim Hall | Program
Jazz Concert 2003: Beyond Recall | Program
Jazz Concert 2002: Mood Crimson | Program
Jazz Concert 2001: Max Roach | Program
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Brief History of Jazz Artists at Harvard
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Selected Jazz Posters 1990-2005
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The Jazz Program at Harvard was initiated in 1971 by Director of Bands Tom Everett and has been developed with the support of the Office for the Arts (OFA) since 1976. Mark Olson serves as Assistant Director. The goal is threefold: to provide an opportunity for undergraduates to work directly with classic repertoire and masters of the art form; to honor artists who have made a significant contribution to American music (often including the commission of new work); and increase public awareness of the artist's music. "There is no substitution for intense involvement in an artist's creation and the insights provided directly by the artist," says Everett. Guest musicians, who are often isolated from the liberal arts environment, and students both benefit from this educational exchange.
A remarkable array of significant artists has played with the Harvard Jazz Band over the years, including Hank Jones, Jim Hall, Benny Carter, Illinois Jacquet, Max Roach, Randy Weston, and Lester Bowie. New works have been commissioned from artists such as Steve Lacy, Andrew Hill, Steve Swallow, Benny Carter, and Anthony Braxton. Boston arranger/composer Jeff Friedman has also contributed ongoingly to the retrospective concerts.
In April 2000, the Boston Globe wrote, "Harvard University director of bands Tom Everett has been staging annual repertory events with guests artists for nearly three decades that often put the pros to shame in terms of conceptual ingenuity". The artistic path of many visiting artists has been influenced by their Harvard experience. For example:
*In 2003, trombonist Roswell Rudd met trumpeter Dave Douglas at Harvard. They are now touring together exploring the compositions of Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols.
*Trombonist/composer J. J. Johnson's last works for brass were commissioned by and premiered at Harvard in 1996.
* Soon after a 1990 Harvard residency brought attention to trumpeter/arranger Buck Clayton, he received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award.
* Carla Bley, who now arranges primarily for big bands, had her first commission in 1986 for that format at Harvard.
* In 1980, Bill Evans, with John Lewis, performed one of Evans' last concerts for the premiere of Lewis' "The Gates of Harvard." A later recording received two Grammy nominations.
Over the years, the Jazz Band has focused on the literature of Duke Ellington and complete retrospective concerts of the music of Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Clark Terry, J. J. Johnson, and Julius Hemphill. Other literature has ranged from the classic arrangements of Count Basie and Fletcher Henderson to the modern jazz of Gil Evans and Charles Mingus, the contemporary ensemble improvisations of Barry Guy and Lester Bowie, and the jazz-rock of Michael Gibbs and Russ Gershon Harvard ‘81.
Harvard Jazz Band alumni/ae have remained active in jazz either by an occupation in music, through their children becoming involved, or by simply remaining jazz fans and supporters. According to Tom Everett, "Thirty-five years ago there wasn't a course on jazz at Harvard or structured playing opportunities; today the Afro-American Studies department has the Quincy Jones Visiting Professor of African-American Music, a core course on jazz, a student-initiated Jazz Society and the Jazz Bands. Jazz is now quite visible on campus and is considered a significant artistic form."
The Office for the Arts maintains a non-circulating video and audio recording archive of visiting artists in jazz, which is available to students and scholars through the Morse Music and Media Collection, Lamont Library.
Related Sites:
Harvard Jazz Band | African
American Studies Courses
