Benjamin Golson was born on January 25, 1929, in Philadelphia. He started playing the piano when he was 9. He liked playing the piano a lot and had ambitions of being a concert pianist. Then when he was 14 he heard Arnett Cobb play “Fly Home.” That’s the moment when he decided he had to play the saxophone. Golson was influenced by Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas, Dexter Gordon, and John Coltrane.

Golson started composing when he was 17. He attended Howard University where he did his first professional arrangements. After graduating from Howard, he started playing in Bull Moose Jackson’s band. That’s were he met Tadd Dameron who influenced his compositional style.

Here he is performing with The Jazztet during a 1997 reunion performance.