* En anglais uniquement
As the Blue Note Records house drummer during the early '60s,
Ben Dixon played on many of the most influential and enduring sessions in the soul-jazz canon, including landmark dates alongside
Grant Green,
Lou Donaldson, and
Big John Patton. Born in Gaffney, SC, on Christmas Day, 1934,
Dixon spent the majority of his adolescence in Washington, D.C. An avowed disciple of jazz giants
Charlie Parker and
Art Tatum, he was most profoundly influenced by
Max Roach and began playing drums while living with his father in Buffalo, NY. A much-touted basketball prospect,
Dixon attended Central State University on a full athletic scholarship but nevertheless chose music over sports, and began gigging professionally in 1955 in support of
Buck Hill and
Shirley Horn. From there, he collaborated with trumpeter
Webster Young before settling in New York City in 1956. A year later
Dixon made his recorded debut on
Ray Draper's Prestige date
Tuba Sounds. In early 1958, he signed on with R&B great
Lloyd Price, spending the next three years on tour.
Price's band also featured pianist
Big John Patton, whom
Dixon encouraged to adopt the Hammond organ, at the time emerging as one of the premier instruments in the jazz lexicon. In 1961,
Dixon joined organist
Jack McDuff's trio alongside saxophonist
Harold Vick, later expanding to a quartet with the addition of the brilliant guitarist
Grant Green.
Dixon,
Green, and
Patton were together introduced to Blue Note via saxophonist
Lou Donaldson, and in the months to follow the three men emerged as the label's preeminent rhythm section during the halcyon days of soul-jazz.
Dixon's roll call of credits is nothing short of remarkable, including now-classic albums like
Donaldson's
The Natural Soul,
Patton's
Along Came John,
Green's
Sunday Mornin',
Vick's
Steppin' Out!, and
Baby Face Willette's Face to Face. He was also a composer of some renown, authoring the oft-covered "Cantaloupe Woman" as well as "Pig Foots" and "Fat Judy." However, the grind of session work and touring wore on
Dixon and in 1967 he virtually retired from music to concentrate on raising a family. For three decades he rarely performed professionally, but in 1997 he returned to music, forming the Real Jazz Quartet and launching a music education program dubbed "Live at Lunch." In 2000,
Dixon founded his own American Classical Jazz label to cut his first-ever session as a leader, Say Yes to Your Best. ~ Jason Ankeny