Johnny Griffin

Jazz musician

• Born: April 24, 1928
• Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
• Died: July 25, 2008
• Place of death: Availles-Limouzine, France

Griffin matured during a time when the tenor saxophone had reached what many considered its artistic peak with the styles of Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Lester Young. Griffin combined the technique of Hawkins, the voluptuous sound of Webster, and the linear agility of Young with his own blues-drenched approach into an amalgamation of bebop and what came to be known as soul.

Early Life

John Arnold Griffin III was born in Chicago in 1928. He studied music (clarinet, oboe, and alto saxophone) at DuSable High School under the tutelage of the legendary Captain Walter Dyett. Dyett educated many musicians who went on to fame in jazz and rhythm and blues, including a number of Griffin’s saxophone contemporaries, such as Gene Ammons, Von Freeman, Clifford Jordan, and John Gilmore.

Almost immediately after his graduation from high school in 1945, Griffin was hired to play in Lionel Hampton’s popular big band, initially on alto saxophone. After making a permanent switch to tenor shortly after joining Hampton, Griffin made a name for himself as one of the most technically adept players of his generation. He played with Hampton fairly steadily until May, 1947, when he and trumpeter Joe Morris left to form a rhythm-and-blues sextet that toured and recorded until the end of 1949. During this period, Griffin was still based in Chicago, but by late 1948, he had relocated to New York. There he became acquainted with musicians such as Bud Powell, Elmo Hope, and Thelonious Monk, each of whom began to steer him toward bebop. Griffin also met and listened to Charlie Parker, who became a dominant stylistic influence.

In 1951, Griffin was drafted and sent to Hawaii, where he played in an Army band until his service ended and he returned to Chicago in 1953. In early 1957, he returned to New York. He played regularly with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers until the end of the year. A brief but important engagement at the Five Spot Café replacing John Coltrane with the Thelonious Monk Quartet in the summer of 1958 solidified Griffin’s status in the jazz world. Griffin spent the rest of his career as a traveling soloist, occasionally working with a regular group but more often playing within the house rhythm sections of whichever club engaged him.

Life’s Work

While Griffin got his start as a big band musician, he always considered bebop to be his primary mode of expression. His long apprenticeship with Hampton, Blakey, and Monk, as well as with various rhythm-and-blues groups, prepared him well for his solo career. He was exceedingly well recorded during all phases of his career.

In 1956, Griffin began a yearlong association with Blue Note, for which he recorded three albums under his own name: Introducing Johnny Griffin (1956), The Congregation (1957), and A Blowing Session (1957), which featured Coltrane and Hank Mobley. At the same time, Griffin also began a relationship with Riverside Records that lasted until he relocated to Europe in 1963. His Riverside recordings feature his own work and the best of his sideman work with Monk, Blakey, Chet Baker, and bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik. Griffin also formed a partnership with fellow tenor player Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, with whom he toured and recorded frequently during the early 1960’s.

By 1963, Griffin was having problems in his family life and with the Internal Revenue Service, all of which influenced his decision to move to Europe. He initially settled near Paris, where he found professional stability even though he occasionally lamented the lack of challenging musical situations of the sort he had grown used to in New York. He returned to his big band roots, playing frequently with the NDR Jazz Workshop in Germany and remaining with it as it evolved into the Clarke-Boland Big Band, with which he toured and recorded from 1967 until 1970. During this period, he also reunited with numerous traveling American musicians, including Monk, Powell, and Blakey.

For the balance of his life, Griffin continued to tour Europe, the United States, Australia, and Japan. In 1973, he moved to Bergambacht in the Netherlands, which he used as a base until moving to the Côte d’Azur in 1980 and then, in 1984, to Availles-Limouzine, where he spent his remaining years. Griffin continued to perform until less than a week before his death in 2008. He was one of the most abundantly recorded saxophonists in jazz.

Significance

Griffin represented a transitional phase in the development of the tenor saxophone in jazz. While rooted in the sound and approach of the swing era, he thought of himself as a bebop stylist and raised the bar for future players in terms of technical command and harmonic knowledge. Griffin also brought a thorough grounding of musical knowledge and years of big band experience to his playing, further setting him apart from his contemporaries and the musicians of subsequent generations.

Bibliography

Hennessy, Mike. The Little Giant: The Story of Johnny Griffin. London: Northway, 2008. Detailed biography by a music critic, covering Griffin’s life, playing style, and place in jazz history.

Jones, Max, ed. Talking Jazz. New York: W. W. Norton, 1987. Collection of interviews grouped by instrument. The Griffin interview is short but very evocative of his European experience.

Ratliff, Ben. “Johnny Griffin, 80, Chicago Jazz Saxophonist Lived in Europe.” The Boston Globe, July 27, 2008. A thorough obituary covering all parts of Griffin’s career.

Sidran, Ben, ed. Talking Jazz: An Oral History. Petaluma, Calif.: Da Capo Press, 1995. A good companion to the Jones interview, this source focuses more on the early years of Griffin’s life and career and contains much detail about his military service.