Johnny Griffin

John Arnold Griffin III (24 de abril de 1928 - 25 de julho de 2008) foi um tenor saxofonista bebop e hard bebop estadunidense. Faleceu com 80 anos em 2008 vítima de ataque do coração.

Johnny Griffin
Informações gerais
Nome completo	John Arnold Griffin III
Também conhecido(a) como	"Little Giant"
Nascimento	24 de abril de 1928
Origem	Chicago, Illinois, Estados Unidos
Morte	25 de julho de 2008 (80 anos)
Gênero(s)	Bebop Hard Bop Post-bop
Instrumento(s)	Saxofone tenor
Outras ocupações	Saxofonista, Bandleader
Gravadora(s)	Blue Note Records, Riverside Records, Original Jazz Classics
Afiliação(ões)	Eddie Davis, Thelonious Monk, The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band

Apelidado de "o Pequeno Gigante" por sua baixa estatura e jogo vigoroso, a carreira de Griffin começou em meados da década de 1940 e continuou até o mês de sua morte. Figura pioneira no hard bop, Griffin gravou prolificamente como líder de banda, além de passagens com o pianista Thelonious Monk, o baterista Art Blakey, em parceria com o tenor Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis e como membro da Kenny Clarke / Francy Boland Big Band depois ele se mudou para a Europa na década de 1960. Em 1995, Griffin recebeu o título de Doutor Honorário em Música da Berklee College of Music.^[1]

Discografia

Como líder

• 1956: Johnny Griffin (Argo, 1958)
• 1956: Introducing Johnny Griffin (Blue Note)
• 1957: A Blowing Session (Blue Note)
• 1957: The Congregation (Blue Note)
• 1958: Johnny Griffin Sextet (Riverside)
• 1958: Way Out! (Riverside)
• 1959: The Little Giant (Riverside)
• 1960: The Big Soul-Band (Riverside)
• 1960: Battle Stations (Prestige)
• 1960: Johnny Griffin's Studio Jazz Party (Riverside)
• 1960: Tough Tenors (Jazzland)
• 1960: Griff & Lock (Jazzland)
• 1961: The First Set (Prestige)
• 1961: The Tenor Scene (Prestige)
• 1961: The Late Show (Prestige)
• 1961: The Midnight Show (Prestige)
• 1961: Lookin' at Monk! (Prestige)
• 1961: Change of Pace (Riverside)
• 1961: Blues Up & Down (Jazzland)
• 1961: White Gardenia (Riverside)
• 1961: The Kerry Dancers (Riverside)
• 1962: Tough Tenor Favorites (Jazzland)
• 1962: Grab This! (Riverside)
• 1963: Soul Groove (Atlantic) com Matthew Gee
• 1963: Do Nothing 'til You Hear from Me (Riverside)
• 1964: Night Lady (Philips)
• 1967: The Man I Love (Polydor)
• 1967: You Leave Me Breathless (Black Lion)
• 1967: A Night in Tunisia (Trio)
• 1967: Body and Soul (Moon)
• 1968: Jazz Undulation (Joker)
• 1968: Lady Heavy Bottom's Waltz (Vogue)
• 1970: Tough Tenors Again 'n' Again (MPS)
• 1973: Blues for Harvey (SteepleChase)
• 1974: Johnny Griffin Live at Music Inn (Horo)
• 1975: All the Things You Are (Timeless)
• 1976: Johnny Griffin Live in Tokyo (Philips)
• 1976: The Little Giant Revisited (Philips)
• 1978: Sincerely Ours (Four Leaf Clover) com Rolf Ericson
• 1978: Return of the Griffin (Galaxy)
• 1978: Bush Dance (Galaxy)
• 1978: Birds and Ballads (Galaxy)
• 1979: NYC Underground (Galaxy)
• 1979: To the Ladies (Galaxy)
• 1980: Live / Autumn Leaves (Verve)
• 1981: Meeting (Jeton)
• 1983: Call It Whachawana (Galaxy)
• 1984: Tenors Back Again! (Storyville)
• 1985: Three Generations of Tenor Saxophone
• 1986: Have You Met Barcelona
• 1988: Take My Hand (Who's Who in Jazz)
• 1990: The Cat (Antilles)
• 1992: Dance of Passion (Antilles)
• 1994: Chicago-New york-Paris
• 1995: Chicago, New York, Paris (Verve/Polygram)
• 1999: In and Out (Dreyfus)
• 2000: Johnny Griffin and Steve Grossman Quintet
• 2000: Johnny Griffin and Horace Parlan: Close Your Eyes (Minor Music)
• 2002: Johnny Griffin and the Great Danes

Como sideman

Com Ahmed Abdul-Malik

• Jazz Sahara (Riverside, 1958)
• East Meets West (RCA Victor, 1960)

Com Nat Adderley

• Branching Out (Riverside, 1958)
• A Little New York Midtown Music (Galaxy, 1978)

Com Chet Baker

• Chet Baker in New York (Riverside, 1958)

Com Count Basie

• Count Basie Jam Session at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 (Pablo, 1975)

Com Art Blakey

• Selections from Lerner and Loewe's... (Vik, 1957)
• A Night in Tunisia (Vik, 1957)
• Cu-Bop (Jubilee, 1957)
• Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers com Thelonious Monk (Atlantic, 1957)
• Hard Drive (Bethlehem, 1957)

Com James Carter

• Live at Baker's Keyboard Lounge (Warner Bros., 2001 [2004])

Com the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band

• Sax No End (SABA, 1967)
• Out of the Folk Bag (Columbia, 1967)
• 17 Men and Their Music (Campi, 1967)
• All Smiles (MPS, 1968)
• Faces (MPS, 1969)
• Latin Kaleidoscope (MPS, 1968)
• Fellini 712 (MPS, 1969)
• All Blues (MPS, 1969)
• More Smiles (MPS, 1969)
• Volcano (Polydor 1969)
• Clarke Boland Big Band en Concert avec Europe 1 (Tréma, 1969 [1992])

Com Tadd Dameron

• The Magic Touch (Riverside 1962)

Com Dizzy Gillespie

• The Giant (America, 1973)
• The Source (America, 1973)
• The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 (Pablo, 1975)

Com Bennie Green

• Glidin' Along (Jazzland 1961)

Com Philly Joe Jones

• Blues for Dracula (Riverside, 1958)
• Look Stop Listen (Uptown, 1983) Com Dameronia

Com Johnny Lytle

• Nice and Easy (Jazzland, 1962)

Com Blue Mitchell

• Big 6 (Riverside 1958)

Com Thelonious Monk

• Thelonious in Action (Riverside 1958)
• Misterioso (Riverside 1958)

Com Bud Powell

• Bud in Paris (1975, Xanadu) (recorded live 1960)
• Earl Bud Powell, Vol. 8: Holidays in Edenville, 64 (Mythic Sound, 1964)

Com A. K. Salim

• Stable Mates (Savoy, 1957)
• Pretty for the People (Savoy, 1957)

Com Ira Sullivan

• Blue Stroll (Delmark, 1961)

Com Clark Terry

• Serenade to a Bus Seat (Riverside, 1957)

Com Wilbur Ware

• The Chicago Sound (Riverside, 1957)

Com Randy Weston

• Little Niles (United Artists, 1958)

Com Wes Montgomery

• Full House (Riverside, 1962)

Referências

1. Zwerin, Mike; Tribune, International Herald (9 de agosto de 1995). «Berklee, the Brand Name of Music Schools». The New York Times (em inglês). ISSN 0362-4331. Consultado em 20 de julho de 2021