Home » Search Center » Results: ben webster
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
Melvin Rhyne: Tomorrow Yesterday Today
by C. Andrew Hovan
A disciple of some of the earliest jazz organ practitioners, such as Jackie Davis, Milt Buckner, and Wild Bill Davis, jazz veteran Melvin Rhyne's major claim to fame has been the five years he spent with the renowned Wes Montgomery in the early '60s. Yet this is really only a fraction of the story for the ...
David Murray: Hope Scope
by Fran Kursztejn
There should be no doubt of David Murray's position. Since the death of Eddie Harris, he is the finest tenor saxophonist in jazz, arguably one of the most prolific bandleaders in the modern age. He stands among a rare few reedmen working to redefine the sonic quality of their instrument. Looking back at any of Murray's ...
Lost and Found, part 3: Rare recordings of Ellington, Ben Webster, Art Tatum and Gil Evans
by Larry Slater
There are so many Duke Ellington recordings available. How much undiscovered music of the band can there be? In this hour, you'll hear rarely heard gems from the Ellington discography. Music that's so rare, I doubt even die-hard Ellington aficionados have heard some of these tracks. The Duke Ellington Orchestra with Django Reinhardt at ...
Sonhos, Pesadelos & An American Tune
by Katchie Cartwright
Dreams and nightmares this week on Caminhos do Jazz, with a host of superb Brazilian performers, including singers Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, Alaide Costa, Lenine and the MPB group Nação Zumbi. The set also includes a cut by the extraordinary Norwegian world-jazz ensemble Music for a While, featuring vocalist Tora Augestad, and one from the renowned ...
George Coleman: George Coleman with Strings
by Dan McClenaghan
Tenor saxophonist George Coleman decided to leave the orbit of trumpeter Miles Davis in 1964. Or he got an elbow to the ribs and a hip check to leave the quintet, to be replaced by Wayne Shorter in the saxophone slot. Three top-notch live albums came out of the group that featured Coleman: In Europe: Live ...
Documentary: Ben Webster - 'Big Ben' (1971)
Shot for the Danish national television network in 1971, Big Ben profiled the tenor saxophone great Ben Webster two years before his death. Jazz players didn't come sweeter or more soulful than the Brute. Here Webster records with strings and talks about his life. It is impossible to stop a Webster recording once it begins. Your ...
Louis Stewart: I Thought About You
by Ian Patterson
For jazz guitar fans, and for aficionados of Irish guitarist Louis Stewart in particular, the 2022 relaunch of '70s label Livia Records has been manna from heaven. This is the born-again label's fifth reissue of the great Dublin six-stringer's out-of-print recordings since the series launched with Stewart's other 1977 album Out on His Own (Livia Records, ...
Andrew Hill, Ralph Burns, Joe Henderson
by David Brown
In the set I'd like to remember jazz pianist/composer Andrew Hill who was born 94 years ago on June 30, 1931. Hill's music defied categorization for over four decades with its enigmatic and sophisticated musical style. Tracks include two Hill works, a cover by drummer Chad Taylor and a collaboration with pianist Jason Moran. New releases ...
The Music of Hoagy Carmichael, Part 1
by Larry Slater
Hoagy Carmichael's career as one of America's great songwriters is unlike any of his peers. Carmichael, like George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, was born at the tail end of the 19th century, but he was never a Broadway composer, and he wasn't from New York. He was a midwesterner from Indiana, drawn more to ...
