Whisper Not is a 1956 jazz composition by Benny Golson, with lyrics by Leonard Feather added later. It was first recorded by Dizzy Gillespie's big band in 1956, though some sources name Lee Morgan as the first to record it. Golson wrote the tune in about 20 minutes in Boston at Storyville club while with Gillespie's orchestra. Golson's own instrumental version appears on Benny Golson's New York Scene (1957). The piece is in a minor key and features a shout chorus between the final solo and the closing head. It quickly became a jazz standard, widely recorded by instrumentalists and vocalists; by 1960 The New York Times called it an established part of the jazz repertory. Leonard Feather added lyrics, recorded by Anita O'Day in 1962 and later by others; it has also served as the title cut for albums by George Cables (1987) and Keith Jarrett (2000).
