HEAR BEN WEBSTER TELL HIS STORY IN HIS OWN WORDS
– THE STORY OF BEN WEBSTER
THE EARLY YEARS
”Playing the Violin”
With strings 1968 at TV-Byen
His mother, a schoolteacher wanted him to be a little gentleman, so 7- 8 years old he started playing the violin. He was not happy.
Playing The Piano”
At the piano in Copenhagen
Liked the piano, played on it. Learned from his neighbor Pete Johnson and later Mary Lou Williams. Didn’t thought about the saxophone, it was really a coincidence that he later picked it up. His first gig with a local band was as a pianist.
“Smack, not Hawk”
The Fletcher Henserson Orchestra 1931
He heard the Henderson orchestra live
for the first time in 1925.
“This could be the start of someting big
- The first saxophone”
He became friends with Budd Johnson during a stay in Texas, who introduced him to the alto saxophone.
“Meeting Lester Young’s Father and the Family”
Lester Young Family Band 1924
In 1929 Lester Young’s father was looking for musicians to play in his orchestra. Ben Webster contacted him and met the Young Family”
”Practise with Prez”
Young Lester Young
Swimming in the River
Rio Grande
Time to relax, but not without risks.
”From alto to tenor saxophone”
Leaving the Young family, back on the road,
the shift from alto to tenor.
THE THIRTIES
“In 1931 he joined the band of Blanche Calloway
– the sister of Cab Calloway”
Blanche Calloway Orchestra
“Leaving New York and going home”
Around 1932 he returned to his hometown and became a member of Bennie Moten’s Kansa City Orchestra.
Bennie Moten Orchestra 1929 with among others Jimmy Rushing, Count Basie, Hot Lips Page, Edie Durham
“In 1934 Webster joined Fletcher Henderson and his Orchestra – it wasn’t easy”
Ben Webster and Fletcher Henderson.
“Henderson disbanded and Webster had many offers – among them one from Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson Orchestra with Ben Webster
“First encounters with the Duke and
the Guys 1935”
Duke Ellington Orchestra 1935
Webster joined Cab Calloway in 1935 - one of the most popular and best-paid black bands at the time”
Cab Calloway
For some time, Ben Webster and Billie Holiday became a pair”
Ben Webster, 20 year old Bilie Holiday and Johnny Russell
Front pianist Ram Ramirez, Back bandboy ”Shoebrush”
“A statement from Clyde Hart that changed everything”
Ben Webster and Clyde Hart
THE ELLINGTON YEARS 1940 – 1943
This was a very important period for both Duke Ellington
and his first tenor saxophone soloist Ben Webster.
“Leaving Teddy Wilson”
Ben Webster & Teddy Wilson, (Photo: Jan Persson)
He got an offer, he couldn’t refuse.
Shortly after Webster left, Teddy Wilson disbanded his orchestra.
“Joining Duke’s Band”
Duke Ellington Orchestra at Wells Fargo, November 1940 (Photo: Jack Towers)
“A dream became true.
He was not the first tenor player in the band.”
“Get off my note, find your own!”
“In the beginning, there were no parts written for the tenor saxophone”
“Strange Notes”
Duke Ellington & Ben Webster
“When he had parts to play, there were notes, that sounded wrong to
his ears. Then Juan Tizol offered him some advice”
“Recording sessions”
Rehearsing
Creating new music”
“Sometimes new music was distributed on the bandstand”
Cotton Tail
“Cotton Tail was Webster’s tune, but Ellington orchestrated it. He also
changed the title. It was recorded in one take during the sound check.
Ben didn’t like the solo, but it became a classic, and he used it the rest of his life.”
Ben Webster playing Cotton Tail
“Some of Webster’s favorite recordings
with the Duke”
“Playing solos on records and live”
Duke Ellington Dance Date
Ben Webster’s solo in Bojangels, from the studio recording (1940) and
from a live radio transmission.
“Ellington: The Alchemist, The Creator”
The moment, when Duke Ellington transformed Ben Webster into a great ballad player.
“The Band Leader”
“Leading a band in a style nowhere close to Buddy Rich or James Brown.”
(Milt Hinton says, that In a Mellotone originally was a composition made by Ben Webster.”
“Writing music most of the time,
but also socializing”
Ellington partying 1939 with a young Sister Rosetta Tharpe?
“Who wrote the music? Ellington or Strayhorn?”
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
“Even for a musicologist, it is a difficult task to analyze,
who wrote the different bars in the arrangements.”
Billy Strayhorn
“Billy Strayhorn was close to Webster, calling him Uncle Benny.
The youngsters Blanton and Strayhorn used to hang out together with him.”
Sitting between Johnny Hodges and
Harry Carney in the saxophone section”
“Jimmy Blanton and his uncle”
Jimmy Blanton with Harry Carney in the background.
“They were close friends and also practiced together.”
“Sonny Greer – percussionist and poker player.”
“Sonny Greer was not the best reader of music, but he was the world’s best percussionist reactor,” Ellington wrote in Music Is My Mistress. “When he heard a ping, he responded with the most apropos pong.”
“How to pass time on the Road”
“No more busses - on the road with the Duke.”
“Not the usual way to travel in a Pullman wagon.”
(In 1941, New York City’s newest subway line – the A train
-connected Harlem to the downtown heart of the city. Billy Strayhorn’s Take the A Train recorded the same year, became the band’s signature tune until the very end in 1974,)
“Leaving Duke Ellington.”
This is Webster’s version. During 1943, the tensions between Webster and the bandleader intensified. The leader’s Sweet Disposition versus The Brute. Ellington never fired a musician, but he could make his stay in the band so difficult, that the musician himself gave in his notice. They parted without bitterness. Webster stayed an Ellingtonian for the rest of his life.