Collection: Johnny Griffin

Johnny Griffin was a Chicago tenor saxophonist with a big, hard-edged sound and the technique to play bebop at tempos most horn players avoided. Known as the Little Giant for his short stature and forceful playing, he came up under Walter Dyett at DuSable High School and was recording with Lionel Hampton’s big band by seventeen. Blue Note made his name with Introducing Johnny Griffin (1957) and A Blowin’ Session (1957), a three-tenor date with John Coltrane and Hank Mobley, and in 1958 he took Coltrane’s place in Thelonious Monk’s quartet at the Five Spot, heard on Thelonious in Action and Misterioso. His Riverside records, including The Little Giant (1959) and The Big Soul-Band (1960), followed, along with a two-tenor band co-led with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. In 1963 he moved to Europe, where he played in the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band and spent the rest of his life, coming back to the US with Dexter Gordon in 1978 and recording for Galaxy. Our Griffin section starts with the Blue Note Classic Vinyl reissue of A Blowing Session, in mono from the original tapes.