Tenor saxophonist Ben Webster is one of those giants of classic jazz whose sound has never become dated. With his tough, growling approach to swing, and seductive, almost crooning ballad playing, Webster remained a force on the jazz scene from the 1930s through the 1950s. His warm, big-toned sax was always inspired and inspiring, whether as a soloist in Duke ELLINGTON’S celebrated reed section or in his own intimate sessions as a small-group leader. “Apart from Coleman HAWKINS and Lester YOUNG,” Mark C. Gridley wrote in Jazz Styles, “Ben Webster was the most influential tenor saxophonist of the swing era.”
Benjamin Francis Love Webster was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 27, 1909. As a child he learned violin, and then studied music at Wilberforce University in the mid-1920s. Legendary boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson, a neighbour, taught him how to play the blues. Soon Webster could be found accompanying silent movies in a theatre in Amarillo, Texas, and playing boogie piano with various Southwestern bands.
After learning the rudiments of sax, Webster refined his skills in the Young Family Band (led by the father of tenor sax, the great Lester Young) in the early 1930s. Switching permanently to sax, he worked with many influential jazz outfits, such as Bennie Moten’s (he was featured soloist on Moten’s classic Moten’s Swing) and Andy Kirk’s, before moving to New York in 1934 to replace his idol Coleman Hawkins in the famed Fletcher HENDERSON band.
After leaving Henderson in the mid-1950s, Webster played freelance with several major New York swing bands (including Benny CARTER’S and Cab Calloway’s, along with brief stints with Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in 1935 and 1936). In January 1940, he became a full-time member of the Ellington ensemble. “I got my college degree in music from playing with Fletcher Henderson,” said Webster, “And my Ph.D. from Duke.”
Joining Johnny HODGES (alto sax) and Harry Carney (baritone sax) in the Ellington reed section, Webster became Ellington’s first major tenor sax soloist. For the next three years, he produced several masterpieces with Ellington, including “Perdido,” “All Too Soon,” “Blue Serge,” and “Just a-Settin’ and a-Rockin’.” Webster’s swinging “Cotton Tail” solo (based on GERSHWIN’S “I Got Rhythm”) is one of the most celebrated improvisations in all jazz. According to critic Mark Tucker, “He brought great power and drive to fast tunes and a romantic, smouldering tenderness to ballads.” He finally left the orchestra in 1943 after a spat with Ellington, who didn’t like his saxophone player playing piano with the band.
After working with several other bands, including those of Red Allen and Stuff Smith, he fronted his own ensembles on Swing Street in New York City before rejoining Ellington in 1948 for another year. In the early-1950s, Webster became a member of Norman GRANZ’S Jazz at the Philharmonic. He produced several small band sessions in the 1950s and 1960s (his lush and soulful ballad sessions are especially memorable), and worked extensively as a studio musician backing singers such as Billie HOLIDAY and Ella FITZGERALD.
Webster decided to relocate permanently to Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1964, and the legendary saxophonist spent the next decade playing European clubs and festivals. He died in Amsterdam, Holland, on September 20, 1973.
Michael R. Ross
SEE ALSO: BIG BAND JAZZ; BOOGIE-WOOGIE; JAZZ; SWING.
FURTHER READING
Balliett, Whitney. New York Notes: AJournal of Jazz in the Seventies (New York: Da Capo Press, 1977);
Stewart, Rex. Jazz Masters of the Thirties (New York: Da Capo Press, 1982).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Duke Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band;
Ben Webster: Ben Webster & Associates; Soulville.