American Record Guide
Martin Williams : August, 1958

In the past year or so, Golson has attracted considerable attention as a composer: Stablemates, I Remember Clifford, and Whisper Not are widely played. Here Out of the Past is a very good melody and very harmonically suggestive for the soloists; Venetian Breeze is rather slight (and, if anyone cares, rather like an old Cootie Williams piece called I Don’t Know); and Blues on Down is a blues “head” on a fairly conventional riff. There are also two pieces by Gigi Gryce, who, unlike Golson (and Golson’s master, Tadd Dameron) here draws on boppish rhythmic figures rather than direct lyric lines. His Hymn to the Orient (despite that title) draws a relatively cohesive performance from the group, individually and collectively. His Reunion, however, raises a by-now trite set of chords (I’ll Remember April) and the soloists don’t resist the temptation to parade some clichés, with pianist Wynton Kelly avoiding them best. I am aware that this label is generous with recording time, but several times the soloists don’t sound like they really have the tunes down. And some of the ensembles (say Past) don’t state the melodies nearly so effectively as their lines deserve. Golson has a good Don Byas-Lucky Thompson-Dexter Gordon style of tenor with fine fluency and movement (and often more sense of purpose than the other horns got) and trumpeter Kenny Dorham’s sometimes melodic approach to improvisation is a good foil to Golson’s arpeggios (and to J.J. Johnson’s rather tepid successions of rhythmic phrases on trombone). At his best, Kelly is almost a combination of all these approaches and often works with a real imagination.

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Audio
Charles A. Robertson : August, 1958

While building a reputation as composer and arranger during the past two years, Benny Golson did most of his writing for the Dizzy Gillespie band, until its untimely demise shortly after these sessions were held the week before last Christmas. From his post in the reed section, he worked out strongly melodic themes and imaginative ensemble passages to serve both the big band and gatherings of its members in small studio groups. His first LP as a leader is a departure from this context, as he writes for trumpeter Kenny Dorham, trombonist J. J. Johnson, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Max Roach and pianist Wynton Kelly, the only other recent Gillespie alumnus. Unless he can find a place in one of the few large organizations, this diverting excursion will assume importance as the first step in a fresh stage in his development.

From now on Golson’s career may be cast with units this size and his three originals are tighter and more complex than previous efforts. Designed to stimulate the soloists in the intimacy of a sextet, they bask in the warm glow of his lyric tenor sax playing, especially on Blues on Down. Gigi Gryce provides Hymn to the Orient, and Reunion. A show tune, Namely You, is from “Li’l Abner.”

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Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
Carl Kraft : 08/24/1958

Riverside has the best record of recent months, The Modern Touch with the Benny Golson sextet featuring J.J. Johnson, Kenny Dorham, and Max Roach. Golson, noted already as a fine arranger, blows some fine big-toned tenor here, and the writing is superb, especially the gorgeous Out of the Past.

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Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA)
Russ Wilson : 07/13/1958

Benny Golson, who firmly established himself as an exceptional jazz writer with his contributions to Dizzy Gillespie’s big band a couple of years ago, picks up his tenor sax and leads a chosen sextet through as many tunes, half of them his own. Golson’s associates are trumpeter Kenny Dorham, trombonist J. J. Johnson, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Max Roach. As is to be expected there are some rewarding moments. Golson’s Blues on Down is the standout number. The two by Gigi Gryce are disappointing.

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San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, CA)
Ralph J. Gleason : 06/15/1958

Golson, one of the really good young arrangers and writers in jazz, has three of his own tunes here with a couple by other people and a group that consists of P. Chambers, W. Kelly, J.J. Johnson, K. Dorham and M. Roach. It is, naturally, all very well played with interesting solos, a solid swing and some of the tunes, especially Blues on Down, are the type that will be picked up by other groups. It is not, however, an even LP. This sort of thing needs a particular framework not to sound mournful and it is not always present here. At that, the LP is well worth having.

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Westbury Times (Westbury, NY)
Dick Levy : 06/19/1958
V (Very Good)

The all-star lineup here is J.J. Johnson, Kenny Dorham, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Max Roach. The LP’s big highlight features a very tender Golson in Namely You. Playing the tune slowly, he creates a beautiful, easy mood. The earthy Blues On Down that takes up more than half of side two is another big moment. Very palatable and memorable funky statements are made, especially by Dorham, Kelly and Chambers. The double exchange of fours between Golson, J.J., Dorham and Roach, plus Chambers’ wailing bowed bass and Kelly romping on piano in Venetian are also points to catch. Sound is tops.

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Down Beat : 06/26/1958
Dom Cerulli : 3.5 stars

In terms of what Benny’s development to date has led us to expect, this set seems a breather for him. The writing throughout, by Benny (tracks 1,3,5,6) and Gigi Gryce (tracks 2,4) is good, but again not up to the standards of freshness each has set.

I found Reunion the weakest track. A series of variations on April, with a catchy head by Gryce, it hangs together poorly. I thought Blues a relaxed and moving track.

In between, the efforts of all hands are good, occasionally superior. Kelly and Chambers I found constantly stimulating.

This is not to say, in essence, that the set has no value. But rather to emphasize that Benny has set himself a pace very difficult to maintain. This is perhaps the most agonizing pressure he is under. And, anyway, based on past performances, he’s allowed.

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Liner Notes by Orrin Keepnews

“A Benny Golson… might turn out to be the successful voice for this generation that Duke was for his.”

The source of this quote is jazz critic Ralph Gleason (Down Beat, January 9, 1958). Not a man to throw praise around loosely, Gleason was going all-out in favor of Golson’s extraordinary writing talents and about the fully deserved “extraordinary attention” jazz musicians are currently paying to his compositions.

This album helps demonstrate the reason for this enthusiasm, by including three fresh examples of the Golson writing touch. But that is only part of the story here. This LP presents—and for the first time what might be called The Complete Golson: not only the remarkable composer-arranger, but also the organizer and leader, and very definitely also the tenor man. Emphasis on Benny’s writing skills has until now somewhat submerged his playing talents, despite the fact that he considers both of equal importance to him, and despite the further fact that he can blow with the best—with the same warm and moving lyricism that distinguishes his writing, an inventively modern conception and a big sound that indicates his firm belief that high on the list of “true masters of the sax” are Don Byas and Coleman Hawkins.

The formidably all-star lineup on this LP is the result of Benny’s insistence, once the music was ready, that he “had to have this personnel to give the sound and the feeling that I wanted.” Clearly, Golson’s aim is high and his taste excellent: J.J. Johnson, many times over the acknowledged top modern trombonist; the great drummer Max Roach; the firm-toned, brilliant trumpet star, Kenny Dorham; outstanding young bassist Paul Chambers; and the highly regarded young pianist, Wynton Kelly, with whom Golson had played for over a year in Dizzy Gillespie’s band. All were most eager to work with Benny, but it took considerable juggling through time, travel, and studio schedules before all could be on hand at the same time for recording. But the results, we are sure, justify the pains taken: a fusion of thinking and ‘blowing’ that represents modern jazz at its skillful, provocative, imaginative best.

Benny Golson was born in Philadelphia in January, 1929. He began those almost automatic childhood piano lessons at 9. Then, five years later, much impressed by hearing Arnett Cobb (with Lionel Hampton’s band), he persuaded his family to buy him a saxophone. After studying music at Howard College (“a very straight and academic course”), he went on the road with a Bull Moose Jackson blues band that also included Tadd Dameron and Philly Joe Jones. In 1953 he was with Dameron’s swinging but short-lived group (along with Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce, Cecil Payne and Philly Joe); the next year he was part of a Johnny Hodges band (with John Coltrane and Richie Powell) — all of which should establish that Benny’s formative professional years were spent in some impressive young company. Then came some steady work in Earl Bostic’s rhythm-and-blues band; he left Bostic in June of ’56 and four days later was asked to join Dizzy’s orchestra, where he remained until it disbanded early in ’58.

It was with Dameron that Golson’s serious interest in arranging began (“I idolized Tadd as an arranger”). He notes his great appreciation of Tadd’s “melodic and harmonic conception and of the way “he could take two horns and a rhythm section and make them sound so good and so big,” and the Dameron influence on Benny’s writing style remains apparent. Bostic was also most helpful, giving much moral support and the chance to write “many modern things” for the band, even though they could not record them. His status as a highly regarded writer can be considered as dating from early 1955, when Miles Davis recorded Golson’s Stablemates, and Benny really established his importance with the many rich, fresh selections created for the Gillespie book.

Benny’s own comments on the material prepared for this album give some insights into his approach to jazz composition—

Out of the Past: “Originally I had planned to do an old show tune, maybe a Rodgers and Hart; but later I decided instead to write something that would be reminiscent of that type of tune, in which I could try to get that kind of sound.”

Venetian Breeze: “In 1954 I worked in Miami Beach for two and a half months with a small group from Philadelphia. To get to Miami Beach from Miami proper, we had to travel over a toll road—the Venetian Causeway—that passed through several very small islands. This scenery brought about the inspiration for this composition and each night, little by little, I put the melody together.”

Blues on Down: “I just decided that I ought to have a nice blues-y blues, so that the fellows and I could stretch out a bit and enjoy ourselves, and to have some contrasts with the more strictly defined numbers.”

As for the ballad, Namely You: “I turned on my radio in the middle of this one day, and didn’t know if it was a current pop song, an old revival, or a show tune. Eventually I found out it was from ‘Li’l Abner’ and the melody haunted me to the point where I decided I had to record it.”

Benny also turned to one of his favorite writers, the talented Gigi Gryce, who contributed Reunion (named for “getting with guys like J.J., and Kenny, and Max—old friends I hadn’t worked with for a long time”) and Hymn to the Orient (mainly composed on shipboard while returning from Europe, and inspired by striking up a friendship with “an Oriental, a priest of some sort, who was coming to this country to study”).