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Ben Webster

"The Soul of Ben Webster" by Ben Webster on Verve MG V-8359

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"The Soul of Ben Webster" by Ben Webster on Verve MG V-8359

Top title by Webster with a great line-up.

Another great Ben Webster album and the second title by him in the collection. Looking for more. Webster was a great tenor player of course and I really enjoy his approach. On this title I’m happy to hear Art Farmer as well who slots in wonderfully together with Webster and Harold Ashby, who is the second tenorist. A great combination. Another great addition to this session is drummer Dave Bailey.

Original pressings of Webster on Verve seems to be quite hard to find in top shape. This copy plays with some pops and tics in spots, but the sound is very nice and clear. The recording quality is great. So I’m keeping this one unless I find an even better copy. But that is probably not easy I can imagine.

Check this one out if you haven’t already cause it’s lovely music, very soulful. A mix of romantic ballads, uptempo bop and blues-forward stuff.

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"Soulville" by The Ben Webster Quintet on Verve MG V-8274

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"Soulville" by The Ben Webster Quintet on Verve MG V-8274

Smoky and syrupy…

If you’re in the mood for some smoky, breathy and soulful tenor saxophone then look no further than Ben Webster’s “Soulville”, which is a lovely album i’ve been after for quite some time. It is very difficult to find a clean original, both the vinyl and jacket are often not in great shape. The couple of copies I’ve listened to before had plenty of noise, but this copy that I just acquired plays so much better than those. I guess this title was played to death by folks back in the day. The jacket has some issues but it’s no biggie, I think it presents itself ok. The vinyl plays fine, not perfect though, but I’m very happy with this copy and I think it sounds great.

I’m after more of Ben Webster’s stuff, so I will keep my eyes peeled if anything comes along. He did a few more on Verve for example. He was a great player with such a wonderful, syrupy tone. I guess my favorite tune on this album is “Lover Come Back to Me”. But the whole album is stellar. Highly recommended.

This is another example of finding great jazz on original vinyl for a reasonable price.

Do you have a favorite Ben Webster album you would like to share? Cheers!

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