Ben Webster

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).

The Soul of Ben Webster is an album by American jazz saxophonist Ben Webster featuring tracks recorded in 1958 for the Verve label.

Ben Webster and Associates is an album by American jazz saxophonist Ben Webster featuring tracks recorded in 1959 for the Verve label.

AVID Jazz here presents three classic Ben Webster albums plus including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. 'Blue Saxophones'… Take the Oscar Peterson Trio with Alvin Stoller on drums, add two of the greatest tenor saxophonists who ever lived, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster and voila… you have Blue Saxophones! Two masters together in 1957, one (Hawkins) a huge influence on the other (Webster), but now, both very much their own men. As the final paragraph of Charles Fox's liner notes attests 'This is tenor playing in the grandest of manners, unashamedly romantic, even sensuous, with both musicians constructing their solos firmly and audaciously'. 'Soulville'… Ben is once again joined by the Oscar Peterson Trio for another 1957 date. This time sitting in on drums is Stan Levey, in Bens own words 'he's improved since I heard him on the Street years ago.' Ben of course is a huge fan of Peterson…..'the guy can play a lot as a soloist but when it comes time for you to play a solo, he plays for you'. 'The Soul Of Ben Webster'… Here we find Ben joined by fellow tenor man Harold Ashby alongside among others Art Farmer on trumpet and Jimmy Jones on piano in a 1958 blowing date.

Ben Webster was one of the legendary "big three" tenor sax players of jazz history along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. From Ben's early days honing his style in the great bands of Duke Ellington, Bennie Moten and others, to later years following his move to Europe in the 1960s, his playing improved with age as the passion of his Kansas City Swing became enriched with a more mature and tender approach to melody.