Results for "ben webster"

Ben Webster: Centennial Celebration

by Martin Gladu
April 5, 2009

Remembered for his seminal solos on such classics as “Cotton Tail" and “All Too Soon" as much as for his historic clashes with boss Duke Ellington, hot-tempered saxophonist Ben Webster's legacy truly stands the test of time. The year 2009, being the centennial of the tenor titan's birth, Concord Records marks the occasion with this 9-track ...

Stanley Turrentine: Look Out!

by Andrew Velez
April 2, 2009

This 1960 set is from a period which many consider to have been Stanley Turrentine's most creative. The saxophonist, who would have been 75 this month (March), was just coming out of an extended run with Max Roach's notably up-tempo orchestra. Backed here by a then-emerging powerhouse of sidemen, the set kicks off with the title ...

Ben Webster's Centenary

April 1, 2009

Since Rifftides began nearly four years ago, I have posted frequently about Ben Webster - but not frequently enough. That would be impossible. Few improvising artists have achieved Webster's level of supremacy at speaking their pieces with eloquence and brevity. I would not suggest that eloquence has fled; it is possible to be eloquent at length. ...

Poutin'

Featuring the music of Ben Webster
Duration: 6:21
March 27, 2009

Ben Webster / Stan Tracey: Soho Nights, Vol. 1

by Graham L. Flanagan
March 21, 2009

This month celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of jazz's titans: Ben Webster. His career spanned over 40 years, from being a journeyman in the Ellington orchestra to becoming one of that group's biggest stars and subsequently emerging as one of the most iconic figures of the tenor sax. On ...

Jim Hall: The Elegant Guitarist

by R.J. DeLuke
March 16, 2009

There's good news and better news for the many fans of guitar great Jim Hall--counted among them a number of established guitarists who are, themselves, eminent. It would be hard to find a guitarist who doesn't look up to Hall and whose playing has not been influenced by him in some way. Players relish Hall's rich ...

Paal Nilssen-Love: Transforming the Boundaries of Creative Music

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
February 2, 2009

He learned to play the drums before he could walk, battled cancer before the age of thirty, and is a driving force behind several of today's most innovative and progressive bands (Atomic, The Thing, Ken Vandermark, Frode Gjerstad and the Peter Brotzmann Tentet) just to name a few. He has taken the drums to new creative ...

Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings

by Clifford Allen
January 19, 2009

Anthony BraxtonThe Complete Arista RecordingsMosaic2008 Few artists in the realm of improvised music can claim as important or varied a series of recordings as reedman-composer Anthony Braxton did during his contract to Arista Records in the 1970s. With the financial backing provided by what was then an upstart ...

Terence Blanchard: Requiem for Katrina

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
January 8, 2009

During a brief period of four years, two events took place that could define how world history will view America during the early part of the 21st century. The first was 9/11 and the other, Hurricane Katrina. But perhaps most surprising from a global point of view, was how powerless America appeared to be in helping ...

Contemporary Jazz in Denmark: Different Sounds, Different Scenes

by Jakob Baekgaard
January 6, 2009

There's an often-quoted phrase by Shakespeare saying that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark" but when it comes to jazz, the environment of the country is indeed very fertile, and at this point, the many sounds of Danish jazz are reaching across the borders and finding new listeners everywhere in the world. The homogeneity ...