Results for "ben webster"
Results for pages tagged "ben webster"...
Ben Webster
Born:
Ben Webster was considered one of the "big three" of swing tenors along with Coleman Hawkins (his main influence) and Lester Young. He had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls) yet on ballads he would turn into a pussy cat and play with warmth and sentiment. After violin lessons as a child, Webster learned how to play rudimentary piano (his neighbor Pete Johnson taught him to play blues). But after Budd Johnson showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster played sax in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young). He had stints with Jap Allen and Blanche Calloway (making his recording debut with the latter) before joining Bennie Moten's Orchestra in time to be one of the stars on a classic session in 1932. Webster spent time with quite a few orchestras in the 1930s (including Andy Kirk, Fletcher Henderson in 1934, Benny Carter, Willie Bryant, Cab Calloway, and the short-lived Teddy Wilson big band). In 1940 (after short stints in 1935 and 1936), Ben Webster became Duke Ellington's first major tenor soloist
The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets
by Ian Patterson
The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets Alyn Shipton240 Pages ISBN: 978-0197579763 Oxford University Press 2023 Several are the biographies of Gerry Mulligan, arguably jazz's most celebrated baritone saxophonist. None, however, have focused as specifically and as closely as this tome does on the quartets with which Mulligan made his name ...
The Harry Allen Orchestra: With Roses
by Pierre Giroux
Harry Allen is a tenor saxophonist's tenor saxophonist with an elegant tone and swinging style in the manner of Scott Hamilton, Lester Young or Ben Webster. He has a well-rounded discography of over 70 releases as a leader and many others as a sideman. Over the course of his prolific career, Allen has appeared with the ...
Mary Stallings: Songs Were Made to Sing
by Dave Linn
One of eleven children, Mary Stallings was born in San Francisco in 1939. In her teens, she began singing in San Francisco night clubs and performed with Ben Webster, Earl Hines, Red Mitchell, Teddy Edwards, and Wes Montgomery. Before graduating from high school, she joined R&B singer Louis Jordan's Tympani Five. In the early '60s, she ...
John Apelgren: Jazz, Resilience, and the Forbidden People
by Nenad Georgievski
With a career spanning 30 years in the music scene, John Apelgren can boast experiences like few others. As an integral part of what is called the jazz scene or jazz culture in Macedonia, he has performed with various jazz ensembles, ranging from the old Radio Television Skopje (RTS) Big Band to performances with the new ...
Scott Hamilton Quartet: At PizzaExpress Live
by Dave Linn
"Cocktail jazz" is a term used to describe a jazz music style often played in upscale, sophisticated settings such as bars, restaurants, and hotels. It is typically characterized by its relaxed and laid-back feel and its use of melodic and harmonically accessible tunes that are pleasant to listen to. The Scott Hamilton Quartet release At PizzaExpress ...
Jazz Musician of the Day: Richard "Groove" Holmes
All About Jazz is celebrating Richard “Groove" Holmes' birthday today! Richard Arnold “Groove" Holmes, Born Richard Arnold Jackson (Camden, New Jersey) was a jazz organist who performed in the hard bop and soul jazz genre. He is best known for his 1965 recording of “Misty," and is considered a precursor of acid jazz. Holmes burst onto ...
Contemporary Records 70th: Art Pepper and Benny Carter
by C. Andrew Hovan
In the pantheon of great jazz record labels, the name Contemporary Records looms large among fans and collectors alike. Akin to their east coast competitor, Blue Note Records, Contemporary was well known for its refined presentations. From the characteristic covers and well-written liner notes to the quality pressings, Lester Koenig's labor of love was home to ...
Wycliffe Gordon: What You Dealin' With?
by C. Andrew Hovan
Privy to the entire history of jazz trombone via the technological age in which we live, Wycliffe Gordon seems to have utilized this information in such a way that his own playing displays elements from various periods and a technical competence that is indeed remarkable. “I was most familiar, at first, with guys who played with ...
Michel Legrand: Hollywood Hitmaker And Jazz Genius
by Chris May
For many jazz fans, Michel Legrand is celebrated, if he is celebrated at all, for one album only: the masterpiece Legrand Jazz (Columbia, 1958). But Legrand's jazz legacy is more extensive than that, including other historic recordings, with large and small ensembles, under his own name and by Stan Getz and Phil Woods, whose Images (RCA, ...
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