Search - Ben Webster :: 1944: The Horn

A great Ben Webster CD

jive rhapsodist | NYC, NY United States | 06/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD shows what's possible when you remaster things right. The sound is wonderful! Kudos as always to the great Jack Towers. And the playing...well this gives you an idea of what a night on 52nd Street was like. Ben is right out of the Ellington band here, and the references are everywhere - I imagine Ben using brute (pardon the pun) force to insist that bassist Drayton play as much like Blanton as humanly possible (hear Dirty Deal). And 'Nuff Said takes its melodic material from the beginning of Ben's solo on Cottontail. Ben is in his top blustery form everywhere on this disc, constantly alternating between tough and tender, sometimes within the same phrase! This is also one of the best places to hear what pianist Clyde Hart sounded like. A major transitional figure, he died right when it looked like he might be coming into his own.My very favorite track is I Woke Up Clipped, which is played anthemically, as though from experience. I am sure this legendary bruiser woke up clipped more than a couple of times! The alternate take might have the better groove, but it drags badly during the piano solo. And speaking of alternates, it's great to have so many, and for those who don't love the idea of alternates, they are discreetly placed after the main program. Denzil Best is a bit reined in on drums - no comparison to Sid Catlett on those trio recordings from the same period. And Hot Lips Page is very good here, but a bit under his best.Nothing wrong with anything he plays, just not as exuberant as what he's capable of. In short, for those who love Webster, an essential snapshot of some of his most passionate playing. Not his deepest, perhaps. That would come later - in the '50's. But I Surrender Dear gives some sense of where he was heading. An essential release for true Websterians, but maybe not one for the rest of the world. But they won't regret it either."