Ben Webster And Associates

Description

Ben Webster and Associates is a 1959 session that makes full use of the album format. The 20-minute version of Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone,” in which tenor titans Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Budd Johnson, along with trumpeter Roy Eldridge, stretch out, is less of a recording competition and more of a relaxed jam session between friends. This summit meeting proved to be a tribute to another tenor master of the same generation, Lester Young, who had passed away less than four weeks before this session. The chosen rhythm section, consisting of Jimmy Jones on piano, Les Spann on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and Jo Jones on drums, is on par with the brass performance. Three original compositions by Webster were also played during this session: “De-Dar,” “Young Bean,” and “Budd Johnson,” as well as the standard “Time After Time.”