Benny Green
Biography
New York-born, Berkeley-bred pianist
Benny Green has already had a long and
illustrious career at age 33. He
started his music studies with
classical piano lessons at age seven
and was introduced to jazz by his
father, Bert, himself a saxophonist.
"He not only taught me a lot of
standards," Benny recalls, "but he
really pointed me in the right
direction of the right guys to listen
to." As a teenager, he studied with
pianists Ed Kelly, Bill Bell, Dick
Whittington and Smith Dobson and played
in a band led by saxophonist Hadley
Caliman and trumpeter Eddie Henderson.
He began playing in his own trio around
the same time.
In 1983, Benny began a four year stint
with vocalist Betty Carter as well as
working with saxophonist Bobby Watson.
In 1989, he began his tenure with Art
Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the training
ground for many up-and-coming jazz
musicians. He celebrated his
association with the jazz legend,
honoring him with the tune "Bu's March"
(utilizing Blakey's nickname in the
title) on his third album, Testifyin'!
. After two
and a half years with Blakey and
another two with Freddie Hubbard, Benny
made his first record as a leader in
1990, his Blue Note debut, Lineage.
His debut featured a trio setting,
which was to be a familiar outlet for
his musical ideas for several years.
The record featured Ray Drummond on
bass and Victor Lewis on drums. His
1991 follow-up, Greens, introduced his
new trio, bassist Christian McBride and
drummer Carl Allen. This line-up would
continue to record and tour together
for several years, and can be found on
1991's Testifyin'! and 1992's That's
Right. Somehow, in the midst of all of
this activity, Green decide to relocate
and moved to New York City in 1992.
In June of 1993, Benny was honored by
the City of Toronto with the Glenn
Gould International Protege Prize in
Music and Communication. He was chosen
for this honor by one of his musical
heroes, Oscar Peterson. Peterson had
won the prestigious Glenn Gould Award
and was asked to name a young musician
he deemed a worthy recipient of the
esteem Protege Prize. Benny was also
honored that same year in the Jazz
Times Readers Poll as Pianist of the
Year.
Carl Allen left the trio in 1994 to
pursue some projects of his own. His
replacement, Peter Washington, took
over the drum duties on 1994's The
Place To Be. This record, produced by
Bob Belden, was a chance for Green to
branch out. In addition to the trio,
the record included three solo piano
pieces, two duets with McBride and
three tracks where the trio is
augmented by a six-piece horn section
arranged by Belden. "A lot of the tunes
I hear in my head are played by a
quintet, sextet or big band," said
Green at the time of the album's
release. "I then condense them to a
trio format. Here, I wanted to explore
that expanded palette to convey the
music."
After touring in support of The Place
To Be, Benny spent a lot of time on the
road with the Ray Brown Trio. "I can't
imagine finding that level of support
and maturity again," he says of his
four year association with the bassist.
"But part of our responsibility as
young jazz artists is to carry the
music forward. Now is the time for me
to groom myself as an individual voice,
as a band leader and composer." Being
on the road constantly meant a long
absence from the studio. In 1996, Green
decided it was time to do something new
and went into the studio to record his
latest album, Kaleidoscope.
For his sixth album for Blue Note, he
enlisted the talents of legendary
bassist Ron Carter and drummer Lewis
Nash. Deciding to expand to a larger
format was a important step for Green.
"I decided to record all original
material and work with musicians that I
admired but hadn't played with
extensively. I was looking for
spontaneous invention, not a safety
net." He decided to add alto
saxophonist Antonio Hart and guitarist
Russell Malone. He also invited the
great tenor saxophonist Stanley
Turrentine to guest on two of the
album's tracks. Green likens the
experience of working with these
musicians to a rite of passage. "For
this date, the arrangement aspect was
minimal if it existed at all. It was a
challenge. I was willing to sacrifice a
smoother facade for the opportunity to
create fresh improvisational energy."
Blue Note Records
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