I can remember hearing Along Came Betty for the first time - its subtle groove and bebop hipness was infectious. I transcribed it and tried to convince everyone I worked with to play it, even on black-ties (with limited success). Benny Golson wrote it and he died at 95 a little over a month ago. He leaves Sonny Rollins with the distinction of being the last survivor of A Great Day in Harlem. Benny was a superb tenor player and that would have been enough to merit our attention to his passing. But his compositions take him to "Legend" status, compositions like Betty, I Remember Clifford, Stablemates and Killer Joe. He ascended in a relentless arc from DB New Star in 1957 to NEA Jazz Master in 1996, on to a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004 and (finally) to the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 2018.  I remember Benny.

David Sanborn died on May 12th, 2024 at 78 years of age.  One of the truly dominant voices in contemporary music, David Sanborn was, in contrast to his often blistering solos, a quiet, respectful, shyly reticent man. He made a string of albums that reached #1 on the Jazz charts, won six Grammy awards, and co-hosted a ground-breaking music television show.

We will miss his skill, his creative energy and dedication to his roots in so many subtly different genres.

Richard Davis, respected bassist and NEA Jazz Master, died on September 6^th, 2023 at 93 years of age.  Anyone who has heard Van Morrison's Brown-Eyed Girl has heard Richard Davis.  Anyone who has heard Pat Martino's Baiyina, The Visit!, or Exit knows who Richard Davis was.  

A favourite in the DownDeat Readers' Poll in the late 60s & early 70s, he had grown up in Chicago, earning a music education degree in 1952.  His first major employers, Ahmad Jamal, Don Shirley, and Sarah Vaughan prepared him for a career in the forefront of of jazz, while keeping him open to the possibilities of other forms. 

Which brings me to Astral Weeks... This Van Morrison album opened the pop door for jazzers - and it was down to Richard Davis to execute, which he did! His first three notes on Brown-Eyed Girl set the confident, exuberant tone... and it never lets up.  With Jay Berliner and Connie Kay, Richard Davis brought the potential of jazz to a whole new (and pretty much clueless) audience.  I'm not sure they ever understood what was going on, but they were influenced to some extent.

Then we get to Pat Martino's Exit - recorded in 1976 - featuring Gil Goldstein, Billy Hart and, of course, Richard Davis who clearly runs the accompaniment strategy underpinning Martino's virtuosic excursions. Days of Wine and Roses is meticulous above and beyond even New York studio standards; Blue Bossa has a translucent energy and muscle that it rarely felt before; I Remember Clifford draws tears without the faintest trace of vibrato; and Exit shows 70s jazz reaching the level of high art, thanks to the restless interplay between bass and guitar - Richard Davis and Pat Martino.

These days are gone and these men are gone - Davis and Martino - but I have an original vinyl pressing of Exit in my hand and it's a living piece of jazz legacy!  And I believe that jazzers everywhere owe them a clink of their glasses for showing the way to another level.