Benny Golson, GRAMMY-nominated tenor saxophonist and composer known for his elegance and graceful jazz standards, has passed away at the age of 95.

The news was announced by his daughter, Brielle Golson, as well as his longtime manager and agent Jason Franklin who confirmed that he passed on September 21 at his home in Manhattan.

Born in Philadelphia on January 25, 1929, Golson started playing the piano at age nine before switching to the saxophone as a teenager. He was childhood friends with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones and the Heath Brothers (Jimmy and Percy) while students at Benjamin Franklin High School in Philadelphia’s north-end, who would all become jazz greats in their own right.

After graduating from Howard University, Golson got his start by joining the Bull Moose Jones’ R&B band where he met the pianist-arranger Tadd Dameron, who would become an important mentor and influence on Golson. He would go on to become a session player, playing with the bands of Dameron, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers.

In 1956, while playing with Lionel Hampton at the Apollo Theater, Golson’s friend and well-respected jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown died in a car accident at the age of 25. The song “I Remember Clifford,” pays tribute to Brown and is considered one of Golson’s greatest jazz compositions. “I wanted every note to reflect Clifford Brown,” Golson said in an interview back in 2008. “And I’ve always said I wished I had never written it, that he was still with us today.”

In 1959, Golson co-founded the jazz sextet The Jazztet alongside trumpeter Art Farmer, known for their “nicely structured, precise yet soulful pieces and a swinging style.” Jazztet was active from 1959-1962 and reunited in the 1980s and 1990s where they toured Europe. Golson would continue playing until in the late 1960s when he converted to Jehovah’s Witness and stopped playing for 12 years before returning to jazz playing in the mid-1970s. He would go on to record over 50 albums as bandleader and with the Jazztet. He would also appear on on over 40 albums as an arranger and sideman. Best known for recordings such as “Moanin,” “Whisper Not,” “Stablemates,” “Along Came Betty,” and ” Killer Joe,” just to name a few. His final album, Horizon Ahead, was released in 2016.

We had the privilege of hosting Benny Golson at the station back in 2015 when he visited Toronto and performed at our JAZZ LIVES benefit concert. He will surely be missed.

No funeral arrangements have been announced at this time.