Johnny Griffin R.I.P.

Johnny Griffin, a tenor saxophonist from Chicago whose
speed, control and harmonic acuity made him one of the most talented
American jazz musicians of his generation yet who spent most of his
career in Europe, died Friday at his home in Availles-Limouzine, a
village in France. He was 80 and had lived there for 24 years…

Mr. Griffin’s modest height earned him the nickname the Little
Giant; his speed in bebop improvising marked him as the Fastest Gun in
the West; a group he led with his fellow saxophonist Eddie (Lockjaw)
Davis was informally called the Tough Tenor band, a designation that
was eventually applied to a whole school of hard-bop tenor players…read on