Old Betsy – The sound of Big Ben Webster

Jazz saxophonist Ben Webster performs 10 songs including "Jeep Is Jumpin'", "You Forgot To Remember" and more with bassist Spike Heatley, drummer Tony Crombie, pianist Dick Katz, and Alan Haven on Hammond.

The great box-like figure and slow-rolling walk of Ben Webster have become familiar sights in European cities since 1965, when he settles - gradually but apparently permanently - into life on this side of the Atlantic (at the time of writing, late 1967, he regards Amsterdam as his base). The sound of his tenor saxophone, though, sometimes hot and hoarse, increasingly often a stream of tuned puffs of wind, has been known to European jazz record collectors a good deal longer.

Ben Webster came to prominence, slipping out from the shadow of Coleman Hawkins, so to speak, during his comparatively short stay with Duke Ellington in 1939-43. He was in his early thirties then, and had already worked with Bennie Moten, Benny Carter, Fletcher Henderson and many others. There had also been an intermittent association with the Ellington orchestra from as far back as 1935. Ben's particular contribution to the art of the tenor saxophone is - as hinted above - a curiously breathy attack, in which he seems to be blowing round the mouthpiece rather than through it. A sound that Humphrey Lyttleton on BBC's Jazz Scene one night referred to as Ben's "breathalyser technique". You can get a very clear idea of this and some of Ben Webster's other characteristics on this record, made in London in January 1967. To back him on all but two of the tracks Dick Katz, well known once to most listeners as a member of the Ray Allington Quartet, was dragged from behind this agency desk and sat at the piano, to produce splendid, rolling two-handed stuff of a kind we could do with more often. Spike Haetly, one of the best in Britain, is on bass. Tony Cromble is on drums. "My One And Only Love", "Where Or When" and "Remember" have the distinctive organ sound of Alan Haven.

As with almost any Ben Webster set you're likely to encounter in the flesh, there's a strong tincture of Ellington about the repertoire. "Just A Sittin' And A Rockin'" was originally titled "See'pea", Duke's nickname for his late lieutenant Billy Strayhorn when it was first recorded in 1941. "Jeep Is Jumpin'" is a reference to one of the many pet names for Johnny Hodges. "Solitude", the tune of which was written in 1934, is possibly the widest known of Duke's compositions outside jazz circles. Most of the rest of the material is made up of popular standards. The Jimmy McHugh-Dorothy Field number "Exactly Like You" is from a 1930 New York show called 'International Revue'. Of the two Irving Berlin tunes, "How Deep is The Ocean" dates from 1925. Fats Waller and Andy Razaf wrote "Honeysuckle Rose" in 1929, since when it has just conceivably been played by more jazz musicians of more various styles than any other tune. In the middle and late thirties no jam session sounded right without it. Richard Rodgers' tune "Where Or When", with Lorenz Hart's words, is from teh 1937 musical 'Babes In Arms'. Harry Baris (of The Rythme Boys) and Ted Koehler wrote "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams", which has one of the most 'yearning' middle eighths of all popular songs, in 1931.

- Fritz de With, Balance / MW Coding Engineer, STS Analog/STS Digital, The Netherlands

"The sound quality is very good indeed. The instrument's timbre is very accurate, the recording space is neatly distributed and you can pinpoint where every musician is, the stereo image is wide and well distributed with a very detailed presence and transparency. The illusion of “being there” is extremely realistic. I have the impression that this tape was meticulously mastered and if it’s so, it was a great Mastering work. As a Mastering Engineer myself, I have found many nice recordings ruined by the Mastering process. Not this one. Well, Fritz has been doing this since the 70’s, so, he must know a thing or 2 about recording and sound quality..."

Ben Webster's real name is Benjamin Francis Webster and is also known as "The Brute" or "Frog". He was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Artists:
Bass: Ray Brown
Drums: Ed Tighpen
Organ: Alan Haven
Piano: Dick Katz
Tenor sax: Ben Webster

Tracklist

1. How deep is the ocean(I. Berlin)
2. My one and only love (G. Wood)
3. Honeysukle rose (F. Walter)
4. Wrap your troubles in dreams (H. Barris)
5. Exactly like you (J.M. Hught)
6. Where or when (R. Rodgers)
7. Just a sittin and a rock (D. Ellington/B. Strayhorn)
8. Solitude (D. Ellington)
9. You forget to remember (I. Berlin)
10. Jeep is jumpin (D. Ellington/J. Hodges)