From Jazziz
Swing-era tenor great Ben Webster has been justifiably praised for his gorgeous, breathy tone and melodic inventiveness. He's among the most lyrical jazz soloists. Webster, however, hasn't been given his due as a rhythmically and harmonically daring precursor of bop. Check out the variety and freshness of his playing on Ellington's "Cottontail," especially his advanced, unpredictable method of accenting. Webster's influences included Coleman Hawkins and altomen Johnny Hodges, whose lush ballad work he dug, and Benny Carter. Partly due to Carter, Webster played smoother eighth-note lines than most other tenormen when he chose to. His emphasis on rhythmic variety also was stimulated by Carter, who was very skilled at contrasting syncopated and unsyncopated phrases. Webster, a more economical improvisor, picked up advanced harmonic ideas from Hawkins and Art Tatum. On Ben Webster, 1944-1946, he can be heard during the early years of the bop revolution. Although he does not perform with many boppers on this disc - Oscar Pettiford and Denzil Best do appear - he was certainly enthusiastic about the movement, championing the playing of Charlie Parker and hiring modernists including guitarist Bill DeArango and pianists Al Haig and Argonne Thornton. On this disc, Webster appears in quintets with trumpeter Hot Lips Page and pianist Clyde Hart or trumpeter Dick Vance and pianist Jimmy Jones, quartets with pianists Marlowe Morris or Johnny Guarnieri, and a Foots Thomas ensemble with saxmen Thomas and Budd Johnson plus trumpeter Emmett Berry. These recordings largely have been ignored, partly because they were on small labels, but they find Webster in excellent form. He's quite daring, possibly because the beboppers were a stimulus. Note his superb work on "Don't Blame Me," where he employs a Hawkins-like ballad approach, double-timing, and running the changes, but he uses more modern rhythmic ideas. His work on this track could arguably be described as bebop. He's also at his most modern on "Blues in My Heart." There are plenty of beautiful song-like solos by him here as well, e.g. on "Honeysuckle Rose," "I Surrender Dear," and "Am I Blue." And Webster swings infectiously on "Woke Up Clipped," "Blue Skies," "Kat's Fur," and "The Horn," which is based on "I Got Rhythm." Webster also had a major influence on R&B tenor playing with his rasping, which he was doing before anyone had heard of Illinois Jacquet. Unfortunately, he had a tendency to overdo it, marring his solos on "Tea for Two" and "Rose of the Rio Grande." For the most part, Webster fans like to hear him play simply, and he did become a more conservative improvisor from the 1950s through the end of his career. They don't realize how much else he had going for him beyond his wonderful tone. It's apparent here, though, to anyone who is interested, what a complete and imaginative soloist he was.
--- JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.
