Tenor sax. West Coast player who started out cool and bluesy, ventured into the free and wild, then went back to his roots. Walter Benton began playing sax while attending high school in Los Angeles. He spent three years in the army, then recorded in 1954 with Kenny Clarke and also worked in a jam session with Max Roach and Clifford Brown. Benton played Afro-Latin jazz with Prez Prado from 1954-57, touring Asia in 1956. He then recorded as a soloist in Victor Feldman's orchestra and with his own group in New York. He was part of the revolutionary music made by Max Roach, Julian Priester and Abbey Lincoln in 1960-61, but he returned to Los Angeles in 1961. Benton played and recorded with Gerald Wilson and John Anderson later in the '60s. ~ Ron Wynn, Rovi