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Parker's brilliance shines through, of course
Ben Webster's Finest Hour
Verve/ Universal Music; Rs. 445 (CD)
Ben Webster (1909-1973), one of the three great tenor saxophonists of the swing era, managed to keep his career going well after the advent of be-bop. He had a uniquely soft tone, often breathy, on ballads, but could also sound rough like his idol Coleman Hawkins, sometimes rougher.
On the 16 tracks here, taken from 1934-64, we hear Webster standing out from the ensemble and other soloists on a couple of big band sessions in the '30s, but most often in the small groups he later led or joined in. This is a wide and representative selection, even including a number on which he lays aside his sax to play piano accompanied only by drums. This fast-paced track, "The Roses of Picardy", packs an intro, the theme and a solo improvisation all into some two minutes, short and satisfying.
Among the delights offered by his usual tenor sax here, "Cottontail", also fast-paced and one of his favourites from his brief stint with Duke Ellington, has him and Ella Fitzgerald (improvising scat vocals) in alternating solos, as well as exchanges between a guitarist and a violinist. "Chelsea Bridge" is dominated by him and the great baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, while on another of his favourite ballads, "Stardust", the big band accompaniment takes a back seat as Johnny Otis on vibraphone and Webster improvise all the way through.
Webster is joined by Hawkins in a two-tenor ballad, "La Rosita". Lastly, one can mention the alternation between Billie Holiday singing the theme of "Do Nothin' till You Hear from Me" straight and Webster improvising on it.
The Definitive Charlie Parker (Ken Burns Jazz)
Verve/ Universal Music; Rs. 445 (CD)
Some other "The Definitive" albums spun off by Ken Burns's TV series on jazz trace the evolution of a musician through part of his or her career, often stopping before the '70s. The alto saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955) died well before that decade, so here we have 16 tracks from 1942-1953 tracing not so much Charlie Parker's evolution — his style was fully formed by the age of 22 — as that of his sidemen.
Parker was, with the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, the originator of be-bop. On the opener, "Sepian Bounce", performed by the pianist Jay McShann's big band, Parker manages to stand out for his incipient be-bop technique on his solo among others on tenor sax and piano. Next come "Salt Peanuts", "Hothouse" and "Ko-ko" from 1945, the pick of this anthology, on which Parker and Gillespie alternate with dazzling solos.
On the bulk of the other tracks, Miles Davis is on trumpet. Sometimes sedate by comparison, he sometimes tries to match Parker but can't quite. Gillespie had broken off with the irresponsible Parker and Parker never quite got a trumpeter of his old buddy's calibre.
Parker's brilliance of course shines through, as on "Embraceable You", on which he improvises beautifully even on the basic theme. He does likewise on the dramatic "Parker's Mood". Only "Just Friends", played with a largish band including several strings, stands out as an oddity despite Parker's contribution. The strings were unfortunately his idea.
One more disconcerting thing about this compilation is the hiss and scratch on several tracks, all of which were taken from 78 r.p.m. recordings. Not entirely unavoidable, given modern digital technology for cleaning up noise.
JAZZEBEL
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