Top jazz saxophonist Griffin dies in France at 80 - Yahoo! News: "PARIS - Jazz saxophonist Johnny Griffin, who played with America's greats from Thelonious Monk to Lionel Hampton but chose to live in France, died hours before a concert, his agent said Saturday. He was 80.
Griffin, whose career spanned more than a half-century, was found dead Friday morning in the music room of his home in Mauprevoir in western France by his wife Miriam, said Helene Manfredi, his agent for 28 years. The exact cause of death was not clear.
Griffin, who had played in the Riviera town of Hyeres on Monday, was to give a concert Friday night in the central Cher region.
A Chicago native, the diminutive Griffin took up the sax early on, eventually preferring the tenor saxophone and taking on the nickname "the Little Giant" for the big sounds he blew out of the instrument at breakneck speed."
johnny griffin ar taylor 4 tet in belgium 1A
Griffin, whose career spanned more than a half-century, was found dead Friday morning in the music room of his home in Mauprevoir in western France by his wife Miriam, said Helene Manfredi, his agent for 28 years. The exact cause of death was not clear.
Griffin, who had played in the Riviera town of Hyeres on Monday, was to give a concert Friday night in the central Cher region.
A Chicago native, the diminutive Griffin took up the sax early on, eventually preferring the tenor saxophone and taking on the nickname "the Little Giant" for the big sounds he blew out of the instrument at breakneck speed."
johnny griffin ar taylor 4 tet in belgium 1A
Comments