Ben Webster The Soul of Ben Webster 180g 45rpm LP

This item not eligible for any further discount offers!

In a way, the story of Ben Webster's saxophone career is the story of jazz music itself through decades of experience. Here we hear a blowing session that matches him with fellow tenorist Harold Ashby in a program of loose originals. Originally released in 1961.

The forerunner of this LP, Ben Webster's Soulville was extremely successful, even for Verve standards. It was only logical, therefore, to invite Ben to a further studio session in New York in July 1958. But for the recording of The Soul Of Ben Webster, a completely different ensemble had been called together. The trumpeter Art Farmer - best known for Cool Jazz - along with Harold Ashby - a fellow musician from the Ellington crew - and the swinging rhythm group guarantee that "Big Ben" (as he was known) didn't lose his bearings during the superb harmonic progressions. "Chelsea Bridge", surely played in a thousand different ways by Duke Ellington's orchestra, is a real gem even when performed by a small ensemble, as here. All in all, this is a convincing medium-sized ensemble made up of remarkable protagonists whose improvisations are of the very highest caliber from beginning to end. And that opinion is still valid even 50 years later!