| But when the rhythm section gets cooking, I want to explode."Johnny Griffin during the course of a 1958 Down Beat record review.To avoid any misunderstandings this is Gleason's paragraph, in full."Unquestionably Johnny Griffin can play the tenor saxophone faster, literally, than anyone else alive.At least he can claim this until it's demonstrated otherwise.And in the course of playing with this incredible speed, he also manages to blow longer without refueling than you would ordinarily consider possible.As far as it goes Gleason's words are probably correct."Finished With Engines" up to "Full Speed Ahead."He is an amazingly consistent soloist, a man who is never off form by all accounts; undeniably he likes fast tempos but is a complete, rounded jazz musician, capable of tackling any material with the aid (or something otherwise!Paris, London, Copenhagen and any other centers where jazz is appreciated.When John left the United States he seemed already to have achieved more than many jazzmen achieve in a lifetime.He was 16 when he joined Lionel Hampton's band as an alto saxophonist.At least Griffin thought he had been booked to play alto in the reed section.He dashed back home to Chicago at the earliest opportunity laid hands on a tenor and rejoined Hamp's reed section which contained such stalwarts as Arnett Cobb, Bobby Plater and Charlie Fowlkes.Apart from a handful of relatively short engagements with other bands (Arnett Cobb's unit in 1951, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from March to October 1975 and the Thelonious Monk Quartet during the summer of 1958) Griffin has been a solo artist or band leader since leaving the Joe Morris band.When I spoke to him during one of his bookings at the Ronnie Scott Club during the late '60s he seemed content to be touring the European jazz centers, secure in the knowledge that he would find a suitable rhythm section for his engagements.Introducing Johnny Griffin, 1956, Blue Note.Blowing Session, 1957, Blue Note.Johnny Griffin Sextet, 1958, Riverside.The Man I Love, 1967, Black Lion.Find Johnny Griffin on Amazon.Find Johnny Griffin on eBay.Peters was drafted in June, Lionel asked Griffin to join him.Johnny believes that gesture may have saved his life.Riverside Records, starting in 1957.He is still the model for tough tenors everywhere.Revised, updated, and still unrivaled.April 24, 1928, Chicago, Ill.Johnny Griffin , or any Britannica premium article for free, even those readers without a premium membership.For more details about this feature, visit our Webmaster and Blogger Tools page."Returned " + google_ads.More from Britannica on "Johnny Griffin"...Hampton, Lionel LeoAmerican musician (b.April 20, 1908, Louisville, Ky.Performing Arts articleAs events in 1995 demonstrated, New York City's importance in jazz, while still primary, had diminished considerably.One sign of this was the attention attracted by jazz in the San Francisco Bay Area, where homegrown fusions of jazz and rock by young musicians became popular, while explorations by a variety of free musicians increased.The sounds of his cymbals and drums were unique, and he played them with rare sensitivity.Many of the young musicians he trained in his bands went on to become major jazz figures themselves.The style for talk shows was set by NBC's Today, which was introduced on Jan.HTTPS is to be used
if (log_location.Illinois, Sonny, Jug, Dexter, Wardell, Lockjaw.Europe and immediately became a fixture on the continent's thriving
jazz scene.Griffin did not return to the States until 1978, when he was coaxed
back for a guest appearance at fellow emigre Dexter Gordon's Carnegie Hall triumph.Griff enjoys his idyllic life in the French countryside, two hundred
fifty miles outside of Paris.How did you get started in music?So there was always music in the house,
jazz, gospel, or whatever.Then I studied Hawaiian steel guitar
for a few years.That was at DuSable High School in Chicago.Yeah, under bandmaster Walter Dyett.He made me play the clarinets first.Clarinet, to me,
is the papa of the modern reed family.He needed an oboist in the band, which was good.It gave me another insight.King Kolax's band played for the party and Gene Ammons was
playing tenor saxophone with the band.Bone Walker when I was
15 years old.Rum Boogie, the DeLisa, and the El Dorado.Walter Dyett was a big influence on you, then.January or February,
1945.At that time Hamp picked up the late Jay Peters to work with the band, but Jay
got drafted into the service a couple of months later.That's when I transferred from alto to tenor.Oh, the tenor's too large.What are you doing with that alto?American kids, all died.The officers were graduating and
having a party.So I knew some soldiers who could play a little bit, and we got together a little
group and got on the show.Other than that,
I probably would have been killed, too.How did you join Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers?Chicago, which shook up the world.We were both in LA in 1945,
and somehow, somebody asked me to play this jam session at Billy Berg's in Hollywood.Art Blakey was the drummer and we had been tight ever since.When I came out of the service he had gotten Wilbur Ware and Horace Silver to
come and play with him, and he tried to get me to come with him.Then he had me come
to do a record date with him at RCA.Fun, fun, fun, all the time.And a year later, you joined Thelonious Monk's quartet.Monk through Elmo Hope and Bud Powell,
who I had known for years.Bud's house or Elmo's house and play
with Monk.And I used to hang out with Monk.He had such a rare sense of humor, not by overly verbalizing.He could shatter the whole conversation with just a thing that he would say,
the cutting edge.So he played what he had to play, that's all it is.Davis had in the early 1960s.We really had great contrasts in our styles.He put corks under
some of the keys!He played more for sound than for notes.And that style he had, why no one could play that style.Ben Webster, but he was really
his own man.He did some athletic things, whatever, but the sounds coming out
of that horn!That book that Eddie Harris had out, intervallic exercises,
why Jaws could do that with ease.But today, with some of the younger musicians, sometimes
it's hard to tell them apart.Yeah, I have trouble with that, too.Jaws, Dexter, Wardell, Jug, jazz was not learned
in the classroom.You need other people for that.When I play I like the vibrations of people,
'cause it helps me create.We learned how
to play out in the street, I mean, in public.You see, there are no clubs like that anymore.When I went to Europe in '63,
there were clubs everywhere, from Harlem to Brooklyn, all over New York.And then all these wonderful musicians,
they have no place to play, which is a pity.Coming back to New York I had family problems, government problems, tax problems.There was such a big difference.You know, America is very chauvinistic.But there's some people over there,
too.Then I went back to Europe, 'cause Bud Powell was there and Kenny Drew was there.Shihab, Idrees Sulieman were there.Memphis Slim, the blues singer, was there.And a lot of musicians were coming over at that time.In fact, at any given time I think there are more American musicians living
in Europe than there are in America.Well, the United States, you know what it's like here.I'm sorry to say it, but it's true.I've been coming
back for 15 years and I really know it's true.Italy, Spain, England, Scandinavia.So in that small area, there was
a lot of music, a lot of venues to play.When I lived in Paris, it was the golden
age of jazz there, at that time.Frankfurt, to Cologne,
to Munich, to Berlin.And I'm doing 10, 11 concerts with the National Jazz Orchestra of France.Note: Pianist and longtime
expatriate Kenny Drew died in Copenhagen in August 1993.And in France, you have a Minister of Culture, he sees that jazz gets its share
of the money.Unfortunately, that's very rare in the US.They were honoring my late bandmaster, Dyett, and I had one wish to see
the band room where I had studied.And I can't tell you how many kids that program saved, kept off the streets,
kept the kids busy doing something worthwhile.They're so busy commercializing everything.It brings a sensitivity to the soul that
will be missing later on if it's not offered.And then I went to Chicago and met my daughter's boyfriend.They have to watch the markets all over the world and he was working
on computers.He had this Mac in his house.And I got interested in
it.Synthesizers are OK for what they are.Then I've been talking to Jimmy Heath out at his house and now I've found some
French musicians who are doing it, which really helped me a lot.Lionel Hampton band for two years.To share this media with a friend, you must have AIM installed.Want More Johnny Griffin?What: Her energy infused Sessions performance.Get behind the scenes footage from other Sessions alums.We give you something to smile about! |
