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Benny Green |
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Benny Green studied classical piano at age seven. Influenced by his tenor saxophonist father, Benny soon found jazz, “I began trying to improvise on the piano, imitating the records from my father’s collections, which included a lot of Monk and Bird.” Gradually teaching himself, Benny played in school bands and with jazz singer Fay Carroll, for whom he opened nightly. Benny was born in New York and grew up in Berkeley, freelancing around the bay area after high school before moving back to New York, where he met Walter Bishop Jr. and began developing his own sound. During the 80s he worked with Bobby Watson, Betty Carter, and Art Blakey’s band, The Jazz Messengers. The 90s saw him with the Freddie Hubbard Quintet and the Ray Brown Trio until freelancing again and accompanying singers like Diana Krall. He has recorded as a sideman with these musicians and on his own beginning with CDs “Prelude,” “In This Direction,” (Criss Cross) and with Blue Note: “Lineage,” “Greens,” and “These Are Soulful Days,” among others. He recorded “Funky” (Toshiba) and “Oscar & Benny” (Telarc with Oscar Peterson). In 2000, he released “Naturally” (Telarc Jazz) with bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Russell Malone. His “Green’s Blues” CD returned to his roots and highly personal style with jazz standards by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, and George Gershwin, to name a few. Among Benny’s main influences are Erroll Garner, Ahmad Jamal, Phineas Newborn, Bud Powell, and Oscar Peterson. His approach to jazz in his own words, “…the main focus is to just swing and have fun and share those feelings with the audience.” |