Jazz Unlimited for June 3, 2018 will be “The Career of Ben Webster.” The show will start with an interview with trombonist Steve Turre about the upcoming Jazz Edge tribute to J.J. Johnson Concert at 7:00 p.m. on June 9 at Harris Stowe State University. In his early years tenor saxophonist Ben Webster was known as “The Brute” for his brawling, aggressive solos. A stint with Duke Ellington softened his approach and he became one of the finest ballad interpreters in jazz with a broad breathy tone. We will hear Webster with Bennie Moten, Gerry Mulligan, Billie Holiday, Dexter Gordon, Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Sarah Vaughan, Oscar Peterson, Helen Humes, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jazz at the Philharmonic, a Norman Granz Jam Session, Duke Ellington, Richard “Groove Holmes, Oliver Nelson, Art Tatum and Johnny Hodges.
The Slide Show contains my photographs of some of the musicians heard on this show.
The Archive of this show will be available until the morning of June 10 2018.
Here is a rare reunion of Ben Webster (ts) and Duke Ellington (p) and the band playing "All Too Soon" in 1970
