Ben Webster - Soulville (Dig)

Smoldering & Sensual

Ben Webster combines the intensity and arabesques of Coleman Hawkins with the gentleness and melodiousness of Lester Young. This 1957 disc reflects Webster at his personal peak and has some of the SEXIEST and most SOULFUL jazz anyone will ever hear. Webster's breathy and smoldering embrace on all these cuts leaves the listener yearning for more (and a bottle of Merlot)! And, when you've finished listening to "THE MAN" several times, try James Carter's 1995 disc, "The Real Quietstorm". Almost forty years have passed between these two recordings but Carter has definately been weaned on Webster. December 28, 2006

Has To Be One Of The Best Webster Albums From The Fifties

..............especially since all of the tracks, save the piano ones and "Late Date" appear in other Verve compilations as well ("Jazz Masters 43", "Ben Webster For Lovers", "Great Sax 'Jazz 'Round Midnight'", "Jazz 'Round Midnight" and "Quiet Now:Until Tonight").

The cd opens with two blues.....the first one,worth the price of the cd alone, is so beautifully late night........and the second more gutsy and honky tonk and showing Oscar's fantastic talents as a soloist but even more so, his willingness to lay back.

The next five selections are ballads by one of the finest practitioners of the form and are pure ecstasy. Also note the contributions of Herb Ellis and Ray Brown throughout the first seven tracks."Makin Whoopee" is an old, old standard which serves as an excellent example of the humor which can be depicted in good jazz.

The last three tracks feature Ben on the piano, his first instrument at an early age showing stride, boogie, and the type of stride which probably accompanied the pre-sound movies. These are not as important to me .....but would be to a collector since they represent (to my knowledge) the only recordings of Ben Webster playing the piano.

If you don't have any of these recordings, this is a definite 'must'! The blues and the sensational ballads alone make it well worth while! November 9, 2006

Deserves 5 Stars..Ask The Students

Big Ben has played with so many greats and at the tender age of 50 kind of came into his own here...His blues and his sound is pretty unique and distinguishable and he is valued as one of the top of his genre..
This CD has a lot of soul and indeed fits a smokey bar because some of the cuts are so bluesy sounding very Kansas City ...the sound he captures with "kings" such as Coleman Hawkins and "Sweets" Edison on other sides all coming out around this 2o year period smacks of a genre in Jazz history whose heart and emotions are very hard to match.
Lovely package,booklet and added tracks. December 22, 2005

Skronkin' from the old school

Even back in 1957, saxophonist Ben Webster was somewhat of an anachronism. He'd made his start cutting heads on Kansas City's juke joint scene in the early 1930s, eventually landing touring spots with Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington's big band. In 1939, Webster assumed the tenor solo chair with Duke, and over the years honed a smooth but throaty tone that raised his stature in New York jazz circles and, capping a lauded performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, finally brought him to the attention of executives at the Verve label. But by the time he went into the studio to record Soulville with the Oscar Peterson trio and drummer Stan Levey as his backing band, Webster was already nearing the age of 50, and younger bebop turks like Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane had eclipsed him in style and popularity.

Musically about as "inside" as inside can get, Soulville is still remarkable for its sheer poignancy as a testament to smoky lounges, lonely backwater hotels and all-night rumble seat rides to the next gig. Webster's natural grasp of the blues is what makes the whole session work-from the title track and the swinging "Late Date" to the pillowy ballad "Ill Wind"-while the tastefully restrained dynamics of Peterson (piano) and his cohorts (Herb Ellis on guitar and Ray Brown on bass) lift the eight-and-a-half-minute take of the standard "Lover, Come Back to Me" and the Kahn-Donaldson classic "Makin' Whoopee" into the upper reaches of what could almost be called "cool," in the Miles Davis sense. The Verve master edition contains three bonus oddities with Webster subbing for Peterson on piano (the instrument he first learned as a child, and it shows), but the real strength of Soulville resides in the subtle majesty of Webster's honey-dipped horn.-Bill Murphy
January 6, 2005

The Best Ben Webster Yet !

I have several Ben Webster CDs. I just received this one. I couldn't get over how great this one was! This is my favorite Ben Webster CD yet! It is lively, entertaining, and you certainly won't be disappointed!!! Don't hesitate with this one!!! December 8, 2004

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