John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American bo… Read Full Bio ↴John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.
Like many other successful musicians from Chicago, he studied music at DuSable High School under Walter Dyett. Griffin, was reputed to be the 'World's Fastest Saxophonist' in the jazz idiom, though as he aged, and as the jazz audience declined, this accolade all but disappeared.
In the 1940s and 1950s he worked in Lionel Hampton's and Joe Morris's bands, in the Jazz Messengers, and in the Thelonious Monk Quartet. From 1960 to 1962 Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Griffin led their own group. Having felt he had achieved much in the USA, his pinnacle on record arguably the 1957 Blowin' session on the Blue Note label with fellow tenor John Coltrane, he moved to Europe. He lived in France in 1963, moving to the Netherlands in 1978, and he still continued to record and tour until his death in 2008.
Like many other successful musicians from Chicago, he studied music at DuSable High School under Walter Dyett. Griffin, was reputed to be the 'World's Fastest Saxophonist' in the jazz idiom, though as he aged, and as the jazz audience declined, this accolade all but disappeared.
In the 1940s and 1950s he worked in Lionel Hampton's and Joe Morris's bands, in the Jazz Messengers, and in the Thelonious Monk Quartet. From 1960 to 1962 Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Griffin led their own group. Having felt he had achieved much in the USA, his pinnacle on record arguably the 1957 Blowin' session on the Blue Note label with fellow tenor John Coltrane, he moved to Europe. He lived in France in 1963, moving to the Netherlands in 1978, and he still continued to record and tour until his death in 2008.
Mil Dew
Johnny Griffin Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Johnny Griffin:
'Round Midnight It begins to tell 'Round midnight, midnight I do pretty well…
A night in Tunesia In the still of the night As I gaze out of…
All Through The Night The day is my enemy, the night my friend, For I'm…
Autumn Leaves The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of…
Body And Soul My heart is sad and lonely For you I sigh, for…
Exactly Like You I used to have a perfect sweetheart Not a real one,…
Gloomy Sunday Sunday is gloomy; my hours are slumber-less Dearest, the sh…
Good Morning Heartache Good morning heartache, you old gloomy sight Good morning he…
I Cried for You I remember other days how I used to weep Over…
In the Still of the Night In the still of the night As I gaze out of…
It's You or No One How did I know that the warmth of the glow…
Just Friends Just friends, lovers no more Just friends, but not like befo…
Just You Just Me Just you, just me Let's find a cozy spot To cuddle and…
Like Someone in Love Lately, I find myself out gazing at stars, Hearing guitars…
Prelude To A Kiss If you hear A song in blue Like a flower crying For the…
The Boy Next Door The moment I saw him smile I knew he was just…
The Way You Look Tonight Some day, when I'm awfully low, When the world is cold, I…
These Foolish Things Oh! Will you never let me be? Oh! Will you never…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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Pepper Williams
His double tonguing was INCREDIBLE! That man had some serious 'chops'
ghairraigh
Griff was an alto and clarinet player at DuSable High School in Chicago under Capt. Walter Dyett, who developed a lot of future stars. When Griff was hired by Lionel Hampton right out of High School he was asked "where's your tenor? You are going to play the tenor duels on 'Flying Home' with Arnett Cobb tonight." Hamp's wife gave him the money to go buy a tenor that afternoon.
BuckshotLaFunke1
Top-notch! The Griff in full flight.
BuckshotLaFunke1
Good Griff! What a way to go through the Rhythm Changes, ****** I have some Griffin vinyl (The Big Soul Band, Studio Jazz Party), I heard him live in 1966, but this tune is something else. On alto he would have sounded like Parker.
scottspianist
incredible, just incredible
BuckshotLaFunke1
Ha ha, thanks, ghairraigh, for sharing your knowledge. Is there any recorded evidence how Griffin sounded on alto, do you know?
Ivanovic Rossi
TRABADEZZ.... LOCURAAA.....
BuckshotLaFunke1
So, it's the other way round. Thanks for your kind information!
Lukas Pfeil
solo transcription available here: https://gumroad.com/l/RWoMH
Bb instruments: https://gumroad.com/l/cdzfO
Griffin Datcher
Yeah !!!