''California Message'' is an album by saxophonist/composer

Benny Golson Benny Golson (January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024) was an American bebop and hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a p ...

that was recorded in 1980 and released on the Japanese Baystate label the following year. The album features trombonist

Curtis Fuller Curtis DuBois Fuller (December 15, 1932May 8, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributed to many classic jazz recordings. Early life Fuller was born in Detroit on December 15, 193 ...

, Golsons colleague from

The Jazztet The Jazztet was a jazz sextet, co-founded in 1959 by trumpeter Art Farmer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, always featuring the founders along with a trombonist and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section. In its first phase, the Jazztet lasted unti ...

who also played with

The Jazz Messengers The Jazz Messengers were a jazz combo that existed for over thirty-five years beginning in the early 1950s as a collective, and ending when long-time leader and founding drummer Art Blakey died in 1990. Blakey led or co-led the group from the o ...

, and was reissued on the Dutch Timeless label in 1984.Jazzlists: Timeless Records SJP series discography
accessed March 21, 2019

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Steve Loewy said "While not one of Benny Golson's best recordings, there are still delights to be found. Golson leads a septet of trombonist Curtis Fuller plus mostly studio musicians from the Los Angeles area, performing a set of generally well-known tunes written by the leader ... trumpeter Oscar Brashear is a pleasant surprise with his lyrical, forward-looking solos. Golson is a pleasure to hear, too, on both tenor and soprano saxophones. Largely, the recording is fairly ordinary, though, with a sense that much of this has been done before, only better, by groups led by Golson. There is better Golson available elsewhere".

Track listing

All compositions by Benny Golson # "California Message" – 5:41 # "Soul Talk" – 6:41 # "

Blues March "Blues March" is a composition by Benny Golson. It was first recorded for Blue Mitchell's Riverside album '' Big 6'' on July 2 and 3, 1958,Yanow, Scot"Blue Mitchell: Big 6" AllMusic. Retrieved December 21, 2013. and has become a jazz standard.Bl ...

" – 5:56 # "The Berliner" – 5:48 # " Whisper Not" – 8:55 # "Free Again" – 7:15 # " I Remember Clifford" – 6:30

Personnel

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tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

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trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

Oscar Brashear Oscar Brashear (August 18, 1944 – July 7, 2023) was an American jazz trumpeter and session musician from Chicago, Illinois. After studying at DuSable High School and Wright Jr. College (currently known as Wilbur Wright College) under John DeR ...

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trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

Thurman Green Thurman Green (August 12, 1940 – June 19, 1997) was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of the Horace Tapscott Quintet and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Green and Hamiet Bluiett were at the Navy School of Music together in 196 ...

– trombone *

Bill Mays William Allen Mays (born February 5, 1944), known professionally as Bill Mays, is an American jazz pianist from Sacramento, California. Biography Mays came from a musical family and at the age of 15 became interested in jazz at an Earl Hines ...

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piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Bob Magnusson Bob Magnusson (born February 24, 1947, in New York) is an American jazz bassist. Career Magnusson studied French horn for 12 years before switching to bass in 1967. He toured with Buddy Rich's Orchestra in 1968 and played with the San Diego Symph ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Roy McCurdy Roy McCurdy (born November 28, 1936) is a jazz drummer. Early life McCurdy began playing drums around the age of 10 in his hometown of Rochester and took lessons from Eastman percussionist Bill Street as a teenager. He spent three years in the A ...

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drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Production

*Fumimaru Kawashima, Makoto Kimata – producer *Ron Nadel –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

References

{{Authority control Benny Golson albums 1981 albums Baystate Records albums Timeless Records albums