[[Release Detail]]

Ben is still a whale of a tenor player, his approach for the ballads being as poignant and lyrical as ever. On such romantic tunes as My Romance and What’s New that breathy tone and broad-beamed phrasing are well in evidence, whilst the underlying humour and swing are more to the fore in the more mus­cular Easy To Love. Autumn Leaves is great Webster. The tempo is exactly right and Ben is in the groove from the start. The pianist is a long way away from Ben’s beloved stride men, but he swings gently and forms nice background patterns for the tenor player’s improvisations. The bass has been somewhat heavily recorded, but his drive is admirable nevertheless.

Stardust, a lovely tune but sometime a drag for jazz improvisation, shows that Ben is a real master of flowing, keenly phrased ballad construction. Yesterdays is played so close to the microphone that momentarily I sus­pected a gas leak. But Ben always has that aerated vibrato well under control, and never overdoes what has throughout the years be­come something of a mannerism in his play­ing.

The best track, by far, is Duke’s Blue Light (later Transbluency), where if ever a man sang the blues on his instrument, this is it. Ben’s solo choruses are peerlessly construct­ed, and the final one is a real cry from the heart. Meyer’s band give him such excellent support that one could wish more were heard from them. There is a splendid trombone chorus from Darville, the pianist plays most sympathetically, and the ensembles sound full and warm. But mostly this is Ben in his most devastatingly romantic mood. The tunes are, by-and-large, well worth doing, and anyway Ben makes them sound that way. Nothing ever rags, the pulse is always strong and the accompaniments well suited to Webster’s lustrous, lusty blowing.

[[Release Description]]

Ben is still a whale of a tenor player, his approach for the ballads being as poignant and lyrical as ever. On such romantic tunes as My Romance and What’s New that breathy tone and broad-beamed phrasing are well in evidence, whilst the underlying humour and swing are more to the fore in the more mus­cular Easy To Love. Autumn Leaves is great Webster. The tempo is exactly right and Ben is in the groove from the start. The pianist is a long way away from Ben’s beloved stride men, but he swings gently and forms nice background patterns for the tenor player’s improvisations. The bass has been somewhat heavily recorded, but his drive is admirable nevertheless.

Stardust, a lovely tune but sometime a drag for jazz improvisation, shows that Ben is a real master of flowing, keenly phrased ballad construction. Yesterdays is played so close to the microphone that momentarily I sus­pected a gas leak. But Ben always has that aerated vibrato well under control, and never overdoes what has throughout the years be­come something of a mannerism in his play­ing.

The best track, by far, is Duke’s Blue Light (later Transbluency), where if ever a man sang the blues on his instrument, this is it. Ben’s solo choruses are peerlessly construct­ed, and the final one is a real cry from the heart. Meyer’s band give him such excellent support that one could wish more were heard from them. There is a splendid trombone chorus from Darville, the pianist plays most sympathetically, and the ensembles sound full and warm. But mostly this is Ben in his most devastatingly romantic mood. The tunes are, by-and-large, well worth doing, and anyway Ben makes them sound that way. Nothing ever rags, the pulse is always strong and the accompaniments well suited to Webster’s lustrous, lusty blowing.

• Produced by Alan Bates
• Recorded in 1965 at Metronome Studios, Copenhagen: September 5th, 13th, 15th, & 21st
• Re-mastering by: Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios.

PPAN BLPP30105 -Artist-Ben Webster

• Released: 7/14/16
• Handling Note: **Please allow an additional 5 business days for this item's shipment.**
• Format Detail: LP Black
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Jazz

As described in our Privacy Policy, we collect personal information from your interactions with us and our website, including through cookies and similar technologies. We may also share this personal information with third parties, including advertising partners. We do this in order to show you ads on other websites that are more relevant to your interests and for other reasons outlined in our privacy policy.

Sharing of personal information for targeted advertising based on your interaction on different websites may be considered "sales", "sharing", or "targeted advertising" under certain U.S. state privacy laws. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to opt out of these activities. If you would like to exercise this opt-out right, please follow the instructions below.

If you visit our website with the Global Privacy Control opt-out preference signal enabled, depending on where you are, we will treat this as a request to opt-out of activity that may be considered a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information or other uses that may be considered targeted advertising for the device and browser you used to visit our website.