Along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, Ben Webster was part of the Holy Trinity of Tenor sax players, being the standard bearer for the rich and full breathy tone that artists still strive for this very day.
The Ellington alumni was 55 years old during this concert, with less than a decade left to live, but he sounds like a roaring lion during this 1964 gig at the Half Note with the swinging team of a “pre-Attorney Bernie” Dave Frishberg/p, Coltrane grad Richard Davis/b and steady pulsed vet Grady Tate/dr. Webster is in a jovial mood here, shouting out instructions and encouragements during and between songs; you can feel like your in the front row, nursing your drink while imbibing some of the best sounds for your ears.
A healthy mix of Ellingtonia and Bebop takes place, with two takes of “Caravan” which differ in tempo, as Tate ominously rumbles on one and gallops to Webster’s growl on the other while Frishberg adds full fisted solos on a piano that seems taken from a saloon in a John Ford movie. Frishberg essentially sits out of “Ben’s Blues,” allowing for a three way mud wrestling match that is wilder than anything Sonny Rollins could have conjured up during the same time. Webster sears like a missile between walking bass solos on the charging “Indiana” and “Cottontail,” but as everyone knows, what the crowd is waiting for are the room filling ballads, and Webster doesn’t disappoint. He agonizes like a London Fog on “Chelsea Bridge,” takes you to Galway on “Danny Boy” and croons like Lanza during “Tenderly.”
The sound quality is very good, and while much of the material has been heard before, being given a chance to hear Webster is like having an opportunity to see new filmage of Rita Hayworth. Who’s going to turn it down?