Johnny Griffin

Tenor Saxophone | 1928-2008

Johnny Griffin played tenor with a big, hard sound, astonishing technique and a taste for cutting sessions. Born in Chicago and taught by Walter Dyett at DuSable High School, he was recording with Lionel Hampton’s big band at seventeen, and his short stature and forceful playing earned him the name the Little Giant. His first Blue Note albums, Introducing Johnny Griffin (Blue Note, 1957) and A Blowin’ Session (Blue Note, 1957), a three-tenor date with John Coltrane and Hank Mobley, made his name in New York, and in 1958 he took Coltrane’s place in Thelonious Monk’s quartet at the Five Spot. At Riverside he made The Little Giant (Riverside, 1959) and The Big Soul-Band (Riverside, 1960), and he co-led a two-tenor band with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. In 1963 he moved to Europe, where he played in the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band and lived for the rest of his life, returning to American stages with Dexter Gordon in 1978.