Ossie Godson
Musician
Best known for
Songwriter
Ossie Godson co-wrote a country song called “Air Mail Special” (with Leon Rusk, first recorded 1946) — a different composition from the Goodman Sextet’s jazz instrumental of the same name that, after passing through Ella Fitzgerald and Django Reinhardt, became a standard piece for bluegrass-flatpicking guitarists and twin fiddlers.
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- Credited as a co-author of the 1941 jazz instrumental “Air Mail Special” (originally cut as “Good Enough to Keep”).
- The piece passed through the Benny Goodman Sextet and became a standard for jazz vocalese, gypsy-jazz, and (in the 1970s and after) bluegrass instrumental sets.
- The song has been recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Django Reinhardt, the Country Gentlemen, the Bluegrass Album Band, and many other jazz and bluegrass acts.
