Griffin studied music at
DuSable High School in Chicago under
Walter Dyett, Alto saxophone was still his instrument of choice when he joined
Lionel Hampton's big band, By mid-1947, Griffin and fellow Hampton band member
Joe Morris, After returning to Chicago from two years in the Army, Griffin began to establish a reputation as one of the premiere saxophonists in that city.
Thelonious Monk enthusiastically encouraged
Orrin Keepnews of the
Riverside label to sign the young tenor, but before he could act
Blue Note had signed Griffin. He joined
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1957, and
Gene Ammons, and on the road. Diminutive, he was distinctive as a fashionable dresser, a good businessman, and a well-liked bandleader to other musicians., Half Moon Bay, California, 1985 Griffin was leader on his first
Blue Note album
Introducing Johnny Griffin in 1956. Also featuring
Wynton Kelly on piano,
Curly Russell on bass and
Max Roach on drums, the recording brought Griffin critical acclaim. The album ''
A Blowin' Session'' (1957) featured
John Coltrane and
Hank Mobley. He played with
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for a few months in 1957 and in the
Thelonious Monk Sextet and Quartet (1958).
Move to Europe Griffin moved to France in 1963 and to the Netherlands in 1978, where he settled in Bergambacht. His relocation was the result of several factors, including income tax problems, a failing marriage and feeling "embittered by the critical acceptance of
free jazz" in the United States, as journalist
Ben Ratliff wrote. Apart from appearing regularly under his own name at jazz clubs such as London's
Ronnie Scott's, Griffin became a "first choice" sax player for visiting US musicians touring the continent during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, he recorded albums with
Wes Montgomery. He briefly rejoined Monk's groups (an Octet and Nonet) in 1967. From 1967 to 1969, he was part of the
Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band. and again with the
Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 at the
Montreux Jazz Festival. In the late 1970s, Griffin recorded with
Peter Herbolzheimer and His Big Band, which also included, among others,
Nat Adderley,
Derek Watkins,
Art Farmer,
Slide Hampton,
Jiggs Whigham,
Herb Geller,
Wilton Gaynair,
Stan Getz,
Gerry Mulligan,
Rita Reys,
Jean "Toots" Thielemans,
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen,
Grady Tate, and
Quincy Jones as arranger. He also recorded with the
Nat Adderley Quintet in 1978, having previously recorded with Adderley in 1958. In 1978, Griffin and Dexter Gordon returned to the U.S., and the two performed at the
Ann Arbor's Eclipse Jazz Festival, before recording
Live at Carnegie Hall. == Discography ==