Peripatetic Benny Golson

ONE OF the most successful of this country's regular across-the-pond commuters is a man with several strings to his metaphorical bow, the talented composer, arranger, and saxophonist, Benny Golson. It was while playing tenor saxophone with Art Blakey's 1958 edition of the Jazz Messengers that Golson first made the trip to Europe — and established contacts that were later to prove beneficial. At the time, the Messengers were playing a number of his originals, and while no one overlooked his skill with the saxophone, it was as a composer that Golson made his mark.