Ynetnews - Culture - Sax player Johnny Griffin set for visit

Ynetnews - Culture - Sax player Johnny Griffin set for visitSax player Johnny Griffin set for visit



Well-known jazz musician, who has played with everyone from Art Blakey to Thelonius Monk, to perform six shows in Tel Aviv club
By Meirav Yudelovitch

Renowned American jazz saxophonist Johnny Griffin is set to come to Israel in September for six shows at the Zappa Club in Tel Aviv's Ramat Hahayil high-tech office neighborhood.

Show dates are September 9-11. Griffin will be accompanied by pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Gil Natural and drummer Doug Sides.

Reps at Zappa Club said there have been many attempts to get Johnny Griffin to perform in Israel in the past, but for reasons known only to him, he never came.

"We really kept at him this time and put a lot of pressure on him in order to make it finally happen," a spokesman from the Zappa Club
said. "Griffin spoke about the Israeli Jazz scene with other artists like Ron Carter, who visited Israel recently, and was finally convinced to come.”

Griffin is considered one of the leading saxophonists in the world. He has played with famous musicians such as Joe Morris, Lionel Hampton, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Bud Powell, Kenny Drew and Theolonius Monk.

In 1963, Griffin fell in love with the Parisian jazz scene and decided to become a part of it. In the middle of the 1970s Griffin moved to the Netherlands, where he still lives today.