[Dixielandjazz] Re: the terminal/gobson

[Luis Daniel Flores]

Bill and others,
Thanks for your answer. The film The terminal is not one of the best of
Spielberg´s but the reason and secret why this man (Tom Hank) went to USA,
is for jazz. So I think we pasionate of OKOM must see this film.

This is a report by ´´all about jazz´´:

Benny Golson?s New CD, 'Terminal 1', Features New Music Inspired by
Spielberg Film in Which Golson Makes An Appearance In The Terminal, a new
film by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks is in search of Benny Golson to get his
autograph for a historic jazz photo.
It?s going to be a busy summer for tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. On June
22, he will release on the Concord Records label, Terminal 1, new music
inspired by a Steven Spielberg film, ?The Terminal.? The DreamWorks SKG
film, starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, and a cameo
appearance by Golson, premieres in theaters on June 18. Also of note, in
August, Mosaic Records is set to release a 7-CD boxed set compiling his
early recordings with Art Farmer, entitled The Complete Argo/Mercury Art
Farmer Benny Golson Jazztet Sessions.
Terminal 1 is Golson?s homage to director Spielberg, a long-time jazz fan,
who summoned the saxophonist to Montreal in February to perform a small
speaking role and play his instrument in the film. Spurred by an all-star
quintet (Eddie Henderson, trumpet; Mike LeDonne, piano; Buster Williams,
bass; Carl Allen, drums), Golson plays with undiminished imagination and
energy. On the title track, as always, he transmutes the heady experience
into his own artistic expression.
?The piece symbolizes the comings and goings of people in all airports
around the world,? Golson says. ?Crowds of people within, and all
scenarios -- locations, emotions -- take place there. The drums represent
the crowds of people, and seem to have a free, loose reign during the
opening strains and the playing of the melody, which accompanies the crowd
(drums) here, and also during the first chorus of each solo. You?ll notice
that the mood fluctuates between a laid back pulse to a pressing straight
ahead 4/4 feeling, indicating that nothing is ever exactly the same in any
airport. The piece ends with the diminishing sound of the drums -- airport
crowd murmur, if you will --as we slowly pull away pursuing the clouds in
mid heaven.?
Golson?s other new offerings are ?Caribbean Drifting,? an effervescent line
with a feeling akin to Jamaican Mento folk music, and ?Our Last Goodbye,?
the latest in a distinguished line of bittersweet Golson ballads.

He also finds fresh ways to approach three of his classic refrains. In ?The
Terminal,? he performs ?Killer Joe,? which, as he puts it, ?seems to have
taken on a life all its own? since he first played it on Meet The Jazztet
(1960). ?I think the thing that helped it catch on is its distinctive and
unrelenting beat, and the sound of the muted trumpet which is so often
associated with night life in the city,? Golson continues. ?I?ve heard many
performers request a ?Killer Joe beat? for certain songs. Of course, I?m
quite delighted, because I had no idea not only that the tune would become
memorable, but also legendary!?
Also reprised from Meet The Jazztet is the poignant ?Park Avenue Petite,?
featuring a ravishing statement by Eddie Henderson on muted trumpet and a
romantic Golson turn. This version of ?Blues March,? which Golson famously
debuted in 1958 on Art Blakey?s Moanin?, differs from others in that the
solos maintain the chords of the melody instead of transitioning to the
straight blues.
Golson stamps his identity on a trio of jazz standards from his early years.
He records for the first time ?Sweet Georgia Brown,? composed by Maceo
Pinkard in 1925. ?This was the tune that seemed to prove a musician?s mettle
back in Philadelphia when so many of us were starting out,? he recalls.
?During the first half of the melody I use a battery of substitute chords
accompanied by a 2/4 beat; all remaining sections are straight-ahead 4/4
with no alterations.? Nor has Golson previously documented ?Cherry,? a
popular ditty written in 1928 by the legendary arranger Don Redman; his
soulful solo evokes the rent parties and street life on Page Street in North
Philadelphia when Golson was a boy. And Golson challenges himself by
changing keys on Dave Brubeck?s ?In Your Own Sweet Way,? which he ranks with
Thelonious Monk?s ?Round Midnight? as ?one of the most beautiful tunes in
jazz.?

Golson demonstrates that, whether recontextualizing the past or grappling
with the present, he continues to be emblematic of the spirit of adventure
that drives jazz music. ?Though the future will always have an
indistinguishable face,? Golson states, ?many of those who engage in jazz as
performers and writers try creatively and indefatigably to give it one of
their own making by coming into tandem with time, boldly making it their
confederate while it moves unremittingly forward, not backing up for
mistakes, regrets, or failures.?
Out of Philadelphia, PA, Benny Golson developed his compositional identity
on jobs with master bop composer Tadd Dameron and rhythm-and-blues bands led
by the likes of Tiny Grimes, Bull Moose Jackson and Earl Bostic. In 1955,
James Moody recorded ?Blue Walk? on a septet session for Prestige, and later
that year, the Miles Davis Quintet featuring John Coltrane, his close Philly
chum, recorded ?Stablemates.? That was the first of numerous Golson tunes -- 
to name a few, ?Killer Joe,? ?Blues March,? ?I Remember Clifford,? ?Whisper
Not? and ?Along Came Betty? -- that would become essential signposts of
modern jazz.
In the ensuing half-century, Golson has recorded over 30 albums under his
own name for recording companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan and another
dozen with the Jazztet, a sextet he co-founded in 1960 with flugelhornist
Art Farmer. He has side-manned with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Art
Blakey, Lionel Hampton, and Benny Goodman, and has composed and arranged
music for artists as diverse as Itzhak Perlman, Quincy Jones, Shirley Horn,
Diana Ross, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, George Shearing, Dusty
Springfield, Carmen McRae, Peggy Lee, and Lou Rawls. During the ?60s and
?70s, he broached the mainstream, writing scores for popular TV shows, such
as M*A*S*H, Mission Impossible, Mod Squad, Room 222, and The Partridge
Family, for more than a few made-for-TV movies, and a host of national radio
and television spots for some of the major advertising agencies in the
country. Recently of note, Golson co-wrote with Bill Cosby ?Monk?s Hat,? the
theme from the 1996 TV show, Cosby.

 Luis
jazz y sentimientos- www.fmclassic.com.ar
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