Thu Oct 1
An adept jazz pianist with a deep understanding of the acoustic bebop, hard bop, and post-bop traditions, Benny Green built upon his early years as a prodigy, maturing into a nuanced and sophisticated virtuoso. Green emerged in the late '80s, garnering praise for his work with veterans like Better Carter, Eddie Henderson, Art Blakey, and Ray Brown. He has regularly led his own groups, playing with luminaries like Peter Washington, Kenny Washington, Carl Allen, and Christian McBride, and releasing a bevy of well-regarded albums, including 1993's That's Right!, 1999's These Are Soulful Days, and 2011's Source.
He recorded many albums as a sideman throughout the 1980s and ’90s, including a duet with Diana Krall on her Grammy Award winning album, “All For You.” He recorded two albums as a leader for the Telarc label in the early 1990s, as well as two duo albums for the label with Russell Malone. Oscar Peterson named Benny as his protégé in 1992, and chose Benny as the recipient of the Glenn Gould Award for excellence in Music and Communication, as well as inviting him to record a two-piano album with him, entitled “Oscar and Benny.”