Jazz Beat #23 - Benny Golson

On Jazz Beat 23, Tom Reney speaks with Benny Golson about his memoir, Whisper Not: The Autobiography of Benny Golson. In their conversation, Golson vividly recalls the impact of seeing Lionel Hampton’s band with Arnett Cobb when he was 14; the challenge of composing I Remember Clifford for his “friend forever,” Clifford Brown; and his friendship with John Coltrane and other aspects of his Philadelphia boyhood. He expands upon a previously undocumented night when Louis Armstrong sat in with Tadd Dameron’s band in Atlantic City and engaged in a “time battle” with Clifford Brown. And he shares anecdotes about Bill Evans, Herb Pomeroy, and Miles Davis; expresses respect for the jazz writer Nat Hentoff; and discusses working with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks on the movie The Terminal.