Benny Golson Releases Jazztet and Best Of Albums

By I Dec. 10, 2008

Benny Golson has announced the debut of his new jazztet, a sextet that aims to revive the three-horn front line of the co-led Golson–Art Farmer Jazztet, which released seven albums from 1960–1962. The group’s first album, New Time, New ‘Tet on Concord Jazz, is due out Jan. 20. Led by Golson, this version of the jazztet features Eddie Henderson, Steve Davis, Mike LeDonne, Buster Williams and Carl Allen playing a standard jazz repertoire and new compositions by Golson inspired by Giuseppi Verdi and Frederic Chopin.

“The task of reconceiving a group with the strong identity and powerful longevity of the original jazztet is no obvious matter,” Golson said. “The choice of new players is crucial, of course. They must be up to the job of making a new group sound every bit as identifiable and engaging as the earlier band—but not in competition with it. In short, the new Jazztet has to have its own artistic identity while it also carries on the highly acclaimed Jazztet tradition. I think we’ve done that here.”

More info: concordmusicgroup.com