Ben Webster
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973), a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz
tenor saxophonist
. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri
, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins
and Lester Young
. Known affectionately as "The Brute", he had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he played with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was indebted to alto star Johnny Hodges
, who, he said, taught him to play his instrument.
at an early age, before learning to play the saxophone
, although he did return to the piano from time to time, even recording on the instrument occasionally. Once Budd Johnson
showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster began to play that instrument in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young). Kansas City at this point was a melting pot from which emerged some of the biggest names in 1930s jazz, and Webster joined Bennie Moten
's legendary 1932 band that included Count Basie
, Oran Page
and Walter Page
. This era has been recreated in Robert Altman
's film Kansas City.
Webster spent time with quite a few orchestras in the 1930s, including Andy Kirk
, the Fletcher Henderson
Orchestra in 1934, then Benny Carter
, Willie Bryant
, Cab Calloway
, and the short-lived Teddy Wilson
big band.
's orchestra for the first time in 1935, by 1940 Ben Webster had become its first major tenor soloist. He credited Johnny Hodges, Ellington's alto soloist, as a major influence on his playing. During the next three years he was on many famous recordings, including "Cotton Tail
" and "All Too Soon
"; his contribution (together with that of bassist Jimmy Blanton
) was so important that Ellington's orchestra during that period is known as the Blanton–Webster band
. Webster left the band in 1943 after an angry altercation, during which he allegedly cut up one of Ellington's suits.
in New York City; recorded frequently as both a leader and a sideman; had short periods with Raymond Scott
, John Kirby
, and Sid Catlett
, as well as with Jay McShann
's band, which also featured blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon
. In 1948 he returned briefly to the Ellington orchestra for a few months.
In 1953 he recorded King of the Tenors with pianist Oscar Peterson
, who would be an important collaborator for Webster throughout the decade. Along with Peterson, trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison
and others he was by now touring and recording with Norman Granz
's Jazz at the Philharmonic
organisation. Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster with fellow tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins
was recorded on December 16, 1957 along with Peterson, Herb Ellis
(guitar), Ray Brown
(bass), and Alvin Stoller
(drums). The Hawkins and Webster recording is a jazz classic, the coming together of two giants of the tenor saxophone
, who had first met back in Kansas City.
In 1956 he recorded a classic set with pianist Art Tatum
, supported by bassist Red Callender
and drummer Bill Douglass
.
, Denmark, where he played when he pleased during his last decade. In 1971 Webster reunited with Duke Ellington
and his big band for a couple of shows at the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark and he recorded "live" in France with Earl Hines
.
Webster died in Amsterdam
, The Netherlands in 1973 and was buried in the Assistens Cemetery in the Nørrebro
, Copenhagen. Although not all that flexible or modern, remaining rooted in the blues and swing-era ballads, Webster could swing with the best and his tone was a later influence on such diverse players as Archie Shepp
, Lew Tabackin
, Scott Hamilton
, David Murray
, and Bennie Wallace
.
's Seal in 1976. In the Foundation's trust deed, one of the initial paragraphs reads: "to support the dissemination of jazz in Denmark".
It is a beneficial Foundation, which channels Webster's annual royalties to musicians, both in Denmark and the U.S. An annual Ben Webster Prize
is awarded to a young outstanding musician. The prize is not large, but considered highly prestigious. Over the years, several American musicians have visited Denmark with the help of the Foundation, and concerts, a few recordings, and other jazz-related events have been supported.
Webster's private collection of jazz recordings and memorabilia is archived in the jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark
, Odense.
Ben Webster will always be remembered as one of the most classical jazz musicians of all time, and is one of the most outstanding jazz soloists ever remembered on the tenor sax.
With Lionel Hampton
With Oliver Nelson
With Art Tatum
With Clark Terry
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
tenor saxophonist
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
and Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
. Known affectionately as "The Brute", he had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he played with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was indebted to alto star Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
, who, he said, taught him to play his instrument.
Early life and career
Webster learned to play piano and violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
at an early age, before learning to play the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, although he did return to the piano from time to time, even recording on the instrument occasionally. Once Budd Johnson
Budd Johnson
Not to be confused with Buddy Johnson.Budd Johnson was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who worked extensively with Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Earl Hines, among others.-Biography:He initially played...
showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster began to play that instrument in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young). Kansas City at this point was a melting pot from which emerged some of the biggest names in 1930s jazz, and Webster joined Bennie Moten
Bennie Moten
Bennie Moten was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of...
's legendary 1932 band that included Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Oran Page
Oran Page
Oran Thaddeus Page was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader born in Dallas, Texas, United States. He was better known as Hot Lips Page by the public, and Lips Page by his fellow musicians...
and Walter Page
Walter Page
Walter Sylvester Page , nicknamed "Hoss," was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925–1931...
. This era has been recreated in Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's film Kansas City.
Webster spent time with quite a few orchestras in the 1930s, including Andy Kirk
Andy Kirk
Andrew Dewey Kirk was a jazz saxophonist and tubist best known as a bandleader of the "Twelve Clouds of Joy," popular during the swing era....
, the Fletcher Henderson
Fletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...
Orchestra in 1934, then Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
, Willie Bryant
Willie Bryant
Willie Bryant was an American jazz bandleader, vocalist, and disc jockey.Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Bryant grew up in Chicago and took trumpet lessons to little success. His first job in entertainment was dancing in the Whitman Sisters Show in 1926...
, Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
, and the short-lived Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
big band.
With Ellington
Playing with Duke EllingtonDuke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
's orchestra for the first time in 1935, by 1940 Ben Webster had become its first major tenor soloist. He credited Johnny Hodges, Ellington's alto soloist, as a major influence on his playing. During the next three years he was on many famous recordings, including "Cotton Tail
Cotton Tail
"Cotton Tail" is a 1940 composition by Duke Ellington. It is based on the rhythm changes from George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm". The first Ellington recording is notable for the driving tenor saxophone solo by Ben Webster. Originally an instrumental, "Cotton Tail" later had lyrics written for it by...
" and "All Too Soon
All Too Soon
"All Too Soon" is a 1940 song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics written by Carl Sigman.-Notable recordings:*Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook *Peggy Lee, George Shearing - Beauty and the Beat!...
"; his contribution (together with that of bassist Jimmy Blanton
Jimmy Blanton
Jimmie Blanton was an influential American jazz double bassist. Blanton is credited with being the originator of pizzicato and bowed bass solos....
) was so important that Ellington's orchestra during that period is known as the Blanton–Webster band
The Blanton–Webster Band
The Blanton–Webster Band combines the master takes of all the recordings by Duke Ellington's Orchestra during the years of 1940 to 1942, involving bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. The recordings were originally made for RCA Victor during what many critics regard as the...
. Webster left the band in 1943 after an angry altercation, during which he allegedly cut up one of Ellington's suits.
After Ellington
After leaving Ellington in 1943, Webster worked on 52nd Street52nd Street (Manhattan)
52nd Street is a long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-Jazz center:The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life...
in New York City; recorded frequently as both a leader and a sideman; had short periods with Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
, John Kirby
John Kirby (musician)
John Kirby , was a jazz double-bassist who also played trombone and tuba.-Background:Kirby may have been born in Winchester, Virginia, although other sources say he was born in Baltimore, Maryland, orphaned, and adopted. Kirby hit New York at 17, but after his trombone got stolen, he switched to...
, and Sid Catlett
Sid Catlett
Sidney Catlett , was a swinging jazz drummer often referred to as "Big Sid Catlett" because of his large frame.-Biography:...
, as well as with Jay McShann
Jay McShann
Jay McShann was an American Grammy Award-nominated jump blues, mainstream jazz, and swing bandleader, pianist and singer....
's band, which also featured blues shouter Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...
. In 1948 he returned briefly to the Ellington orchestra for a few months.
In 1953 he recorded King of the Tenors with pianist Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, who would be an important collaborator for Webster throughout the decade. Along with Peterson, trumpeter Harry 'Sweets' Edison
Sweets Edison
Harry "Sweets" Edison , born in Columbus, Ohio, was an American jazz trumpeter and member of the Count Basie Orchestra.-Biography:He spent his early childhood in Kentucky, where he was introduced to music by an uncle...
and others he was by now touring and recording with Norman Granz
Norman Granz
Norman Granz was an American jazz music impresario and producer.Granz was a fundamental figure in American jazz, especially from about 1947 to 1960...
's Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP, was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz....
organisation. Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster with fellow tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...
was recorded on December 16, 1957 along with Peterson, Herb Ellis
Herb Ellis
Mitchell Herbert "Herb" Ellis was an American jazz guitarist. Perhaps best known for his 1950s membership in the trio of pianist Oscar Peterson, Ellis was also a staple of west-coast studio recording sessions, and was described by critic Scott Yanow as "an excellent bop-based guitarist with a...
(guitar), Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)
Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...
(bass), and Alvin Stoller
Alvin Stoller
Alvin Stoller was an American jazz drummer. Though he seems to have been largely forgotten, he was held in high regard in the 1940s and 1950s...
(drums). The Hawkins and Webster recording is a jazz classic, the coming together of two giants of the tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, who had first met back in Kansas City.
In 1956 he recorded a classic set with pianist Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, supported by bassist Red Callender
Red Callender
Red Callender, , was a jazz bass and tuba player, famous for turning down a chance to work with Duke Ellington's Orchestra and the Louis Armstrong All-Stars....
and drummer Bill Douglass
Bill Douglass
William "Bill" Douglass was an American jazz drummer born in Sherman, Texas. Douglass relocated to Los Angeles when he was six months old, becoming in his adulthood a popular LA musician who worked shows and sessions with some of swing's top performers...
.
The final decade, in Europe
Webster generally worked steadily but in 1964 he moved permanently to join other American jazz musicians in CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark, where he played when he pleased during his last decade. In 1971 Webster reunited with Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
and his big band for a couple of shows at the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark and he recorded "live" in France with Earl Hines
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...
.
Webster died in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, The Netherlands in 1973 and was buried in the Assistens Cemetery in the Nørrebro
Nørrebro
Nørrebro is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is northwest of the city centre, beyond the location of the old Northern Gate , which, until dismantled in 1856, was near the current Nørreport station.-Geography:...
, Copenhagen. Although not all that flexible or modern, remaining rooted in the blues and swing-era ballads, Webster could swing with the best and his tone was a later influence on such diverse players as Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, Lew Tabackin
Lew Tabackin
Lew Tabackin is a jazz flautist and a tenor saxophonist. He is married to Toshiko Akiyoshi, who is a jazz pianist and a composer/arranger.-Biography:...
, Scott Hamilton
Scott Hamilton (musician)
Scott Hamilton is a jazz tenor saxophonist, born in 1954 and associated with swing and mainstream jazz.-Biography:He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of...
, David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)
David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
, and Bennie Wallace
Bennie Wallace
Bennie Wallace is an American post bop, swing music and jazz tenor saxophonist born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, probably better known for his work with Monty Alexander and Sheila Jordan during the 1970s. He settled in New York in 1971 and played with Barry Harris, Buddy Rich, Dannie Richmond...
.
Legacy
After Webster's death, Billy Moore Jr. created The Ben Webster Foundation, together with the trustee of Webster's estate. Since Webster's only legal heir, Harley Robinson in Los Angeles, gladly assigned his rights to the foundation, The Ben Webster Foundation was confirmed by The Queen of DenmarkMargrethe II of Denmark
Margrethe II is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1972 she became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margaret I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375-1412 during the Kalmar Union.-Early life:...
's Seal in 1976. In the Foundation's trust deed, one of the initial paragraphs reads: "to support the dissemination of jazz in Denmark".
It is a beneficial Foundation, which channels Webster's annual royalties to musicians, both in Denmark and the U.S. An annual Ben Webster Prize
Ben Webster Prize
The Ben Webster Prize is an annual jazz award set up by the Ben Webster Foundation to honour Danish and American Jazz musicians as well as other professionals active in the promotion of jazz in those countries. The American jazz musician Ben Webster spent his last ten years in Copenhagen, Denmark,...
is awarded to a young outstanding musician. The prize is not large, but considered highly prestigious. Over the years, several American musicians have visited Denmark with the help of the Foundation, and concerts, a few recordings, and other jazz-related events have been supported.
Webster's private collection of jazz recordings and memorabilia is archived in the jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark
Jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark
The Music Department at the University Library of Southern Denmark in Odense has through donations and acquisitions since 1997 achieved the status of research archive of specialised jazz studies....
, Odense.
Ben Webster will always be remembered as one of the most classical jazz musicians of all time, and is one of the most outstanding jazz soloists ever remembered on the tenor sax.
As leader
- King of the Tenors (1953)
- 1953: An Exceptional Encounter Live recording (1953)
- Music for Loving and Music with Feeling (both 1955 – now issued on one CD as Ben Webster with Strings)
- The Soul of Ben Webster (1957)
- Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben WebsterColeman Hawkins Encounters Ben WebsterColeman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster is 1957 album by Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, accompanied by a trio led by Oscar Peterson .- Track listing :#"Blues for Yolande" – 6:44#"It Never Entered My Mind" – 5:47...
(1957) - SoulvilleSoulvilleSoulville is a 1957 album by swing tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, recording a session from October 15, 1957 which Webster played with the Oscar Peterson Trio. This session is described by All Music as "one of the highlights" of Webster's "golden '50s run". The album was reissued in the early 1990s...
(1957) - Ben Webster Meets Oscar PetersonBen Webster Meets Oscar PetersonBen Webster Meets Oscar Peterson is a 1959 studio album featuring a jazz trio, led by the Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, with the tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.-Track listing:#"The Touch of Your Lips" – 6:20...
(1959) - Ben Webster and Associates (1959) (with Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins and others)
- Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben WebsterGerry Mulligan Meets Ben WebsterGerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster, also simply called Meets Ben Webster, is a 1959 album featuring the November 3 - December 2 studio sessions of American jazz musicians Gerry Mulligan and Ben Webster. In a 2003 review, All That Jazz described this album as the most notable example of Gerry...
(1959) - The Warm Moods (1960)
- Ben Webster at the Renaissance (1960)
- Ben and "Sweets" (with Harry Edison) (1962)
- Soulmates (with Joe ZawinulJoe ZawinulJosef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...
) (1963) - See You at the FairSee You at the FairSee You at the Fair is an album by jazz saxophonist Ben Webster, released on Impulse! Records.-Track listing:#"Someone to Watch over Me" 4:30#"In a Mellow Tone" 4:26#"Over the Rainbow" 4:42...
(1964) – Impulse! RecordsImpulse! RecordsImpulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City... - Live at The Jazzhus Montmartre (1965) there are two volumes, and a compilation called Stormy Weather.
- Gone With the Wind (1965)
As a sideman
With Duke EllingtonDuke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
- Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster BandNever No Lament: The Blanton-Webster BandNever No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band is a 2003 three-disc compilation combining the master takes of all the recordings by Duke Ellington's Orchestra during the years of 1940 to 1942 with an additional nine tracks, including five alternative takes and four new masters...
(RCA, 1938–1942)
With Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
- You Better Know It!!!You Better Know It!!!You Better Know It!!! is an album by American jazz vibraponist Lionel Hampton featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse, 1965)
With Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
- More Blues and the Abstract TruthMore Blues and the Abstract TruthMore Blues and the Abstract Truth is an album by American jazz composer, conductor and arranger Oliver Nelson featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1964)
With Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
- The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 8 (1956)
With Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
- The Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark Terry is an album by American jazz trumpeter Clark Terry featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1964)
External links
- [ Ben Webster] — by Scott Yanow, for Allmusic
- "Ben Webster played a sultry Sax..."
- The Ben Webster Foundation
- The Jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark
- Ben Webster Videos, Quotes and Directory – Kerouac Alley