Benny Green – Solo

“one of the most technically superb jazz pianists of his generation.” – New York Daily News

Nobody plays straight-ahead modern jazz piano with more swinging joy and finesse than Benny Green. A very special solo performance from one of the greats of our time.

At the age of nineteen, Benny Green moved to New York City to join legendary vocalist Betty Carter’s band. As a result, he never looked back. Then, he took the piano chair with some of jazz music’s most important instrumental groups. Also, this included Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Freddie Hubbard, and the Ray Brown Trio. With these artists, he would receive an invaluable artistic education, learn to embody the art form and master the music.

​In 1988 he released his debut album, Prelude, which featured Terence Blanchard, Javon Jackson, Peter Washington, and Tony Reedus. Since that auspicious debut, his recordings and tours have featured some of the best musicians working in the idiom. He’s worked with Stanley Turrentine, Ron Carter, Ray Drummond, Christian McBride, Victor Lewis, Lewis Nash and Carl Allen.
 
Green constantly takes inventory of the music industry and societal perception of jazz today. Additionally, he is committed to the truth of what has been given by people who lived and died for this music. Therefore, for Green, playing honest jazz is precious to his human existence. “I’ve never felt a need or a calling to become one who’s thought of or labeled as an innovator. Rather, I’ve strived since childhood to become an authentic jazz musician, and I seek to stand as a torchbearer for the continuum of straight-ahead jazz piano.”

Green is revered by his peers and also celebrated by critics. The New York Times states, “He plays funky and hard, and breathes not only be-bop but Oscar Peterson’s virtuosic effusions as well.” Also, NPR gushes that Green is “a conservationist of the bebop idiom and a joyful guardian of its lexicon.”

Recommended for Fans of Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.

LEARN MORE: https://bennygreen.net/

Photo Credit: Don Dixon