Why this tune?
This week’s tune is a jazz classic penned by the late Benny Golson, who sadly passed last week (Sept. 21, 2024) at age 95. “Whisper Not” was one of the many jazz standards he left us in a long career as a performer, composer and arranger for jazz bands, film and television. You can read more about his music and character in this fine appreciation by Michael J. West in the Washington Post.
“Whisper Not” is a complex, soulful, swinging tune that I have loved for years. It’s fun and
challenging to play, with plenty of harmonic directions and details to explore. Golson claimed that he wrote it in 20 minutes in 1956 at the Storyville club in Boston, which if true (and even if not) gives you some indication of Golson’s skill as a composer. Leonard Feather added lyrics several years after its first recording, inviting vocalists to record their interpretations.
Golson was one of the last two living figures in the legendary “Great Day in Harlem” photo
from 1958. Sonny Rollins is now the last one left.
I play an abbreviated version of the tune, and didn’t include the iconic shout chorus that you can hear on many of the 200+ recordings since Lee Morgan’s first release in 1957.
Tunes On Tuesday Reel
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Lee Morgan
Anita O’Day
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 