Benny remembers ...
During our conversation, Benny Golson recalled the inspirations behind two of his most oft-recorded compositions: "I Remember Clifford," about Clifford Brown, the Wilmington, Del.-born trumpeter killed at age 25 in a 1956 car accident; and "Killer Joe."
During our conversation, Benny Golson recalled the inspirations behind two of his most oft-recorded compositions: "I Remember Clifford," about Clifford Brown, the Wilmington, Del.-born trumpeter killed at age 25 in a 1956 car accident; and "Killer Joe."
_ On "I Remember Clifford": "We all loved Clifford. Nobody called him Clifford in those days; he was just Brownie. What a lovely young man. He never had anything bad to say about anybody.
"But when he put his trumpet up to his mouth, this quiet, nice man could become a raging tiger or the world's greatest lover at will. I was working at the Apollo Theater with Dizzy Gillespie when we heard that he'd been killed. We were so saddened that when we got to Los Angeles the next week, I decided I would write a tune in memory of my dear friend.
"Little did I know he didn't need any help from me. The things he left behind as a harbinger of what could have happened had he not been killed was amazing."
_ On "Killer Joe": " 'Killer Joe' epitomizes every pimp in the world. He doesn't like to work; the ladies work for him. He dresses to the hilt. He's got his El Dorado parked at the door and the doorman's taking care of it. He sets the bar up, he's got manicured fingernails, he's got processed hair.
"Various cities I went to, I saw Killer - different people of course - in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas. I saw lots of him in New York. They'd come into Birdland, and the way that bandstand was set up, you could see them as they came down the steps, and they'd come in there with a lady on each arm, immaculate.
"I saw these guys and I said, 'I got to write a tune about all of this. It's ridiculous.' " *
- Shaun Brady
