The Brute
That was one of Ben Webster's nicknames. He was also known as "the Frog". The Brute part won't make a lot of sense if the track below is the first you've heard of him.
Music teachers must have hated this guy. All that air in his tone is exactly the sort of thing they teach students not to do and here he comes and makes it sound good.
Jazz musicians and rock musicians are not terribly good role models when it comes to aging gracefully. Of the three great tenors—Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Webster—Ben Webster was the only one to manage it.
Hawkins spent his final years desperately trying to keep up with the kids. Young was one of the originators of cool—playing with a light, almost vibrato-free tone—but he died a pathetic death, a weary alcoholic wasting away in a cheap hotel room.
No one would accuse Webster of not having vibrato but there is something gentle and loving about his tone. He plays confidently and smoothly and maturely. This is a man who doesn't need to impress anyone.
In the end, he moved to Copenhagen and stayed there. He lost a lot of respect in the jazz community as a result but he knew other things mattered more. He was right. Here he is playing That's All along with Benny Carter, Sweets Edison, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown and Alvin Stoller. If anybody ever tells you this isn't impressive, say, "Okay, you do it then."
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