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The fantastic jazz saxophonist, Johnny Griffin, has left us at age 80:

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.

In the early 1960s, embittered by the critical acceptance of free jazz, he stayed true to his identity as a bebopper. Feeling that the American marketplace had no use for him (at a time when he was also having marital and tax troubles), he left for Europe, where he became a celebrated jazz elder.

"It's not like I'm looking to prove anything anymore," he said in a 1993 interview. "At this age, what can I prove? I'm concentrating more on the beauty in the music, the humanity."

For a few examples of his beauty and humanity, make sure to pick up some of his CDs.

He will be surely missed...

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