The Art Tatum - Ben Webster Quartet | ||||
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Studio album by Art Tatum and Ben Webster | ||||
Released | 1958 | |||
Recorded | September 11, 1956 | |||
Studio | Los Angeles, CA | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 42:03 | |||
Label | Verve MGV-8220 | |||
Producer | Norman Granz | |||
Art Tatum chronology | ||||
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Ben Webster chronology | ||||
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The Art Tatum - Ben Webster Quartet is an album by pianist Art Tatum and saxophonist Ben Webster featuring tracks recorded in 1956 by the Verve label and released as a 12-inch LP in 1958. [1] The album was reissued as The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume Eight by Pablo in 1975. [2] [3]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [4] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [5] |
Allmusic's review by William Ruhlmann states: "Tatum never subsides to simple comping; he just keeps soloing away under Webster's rich tenor tones until Webster stops playing, and then keeps on to the end. So, although this is billed as a group effort, it's not a group of equals or really one in which the players are cooperating with each other. Tatum might as well be playing solo, since he takes very little account of what's happening around him. Granz makes it work by varying the volume of the different instruments in the mix, and the result is a fascinating study in contrasts". [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings selected the reissue as part of its suggested “core collection” of essential recordings. [5]
Coleman Randolph Hawkins, nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". Hawkins biographer John Chilton described the prevalent styles of tenor saxophone solos prior to Hawkins as "mooing" and "rubbery belches". Hawkins denied being first and noted his contemporaries Happy Caldwell, Stump Evans, and Prince Robinson, although he was the first to tailor his method of improvisation to the saxophone rather than imitate the techniques of the clarinet. Hawkins' virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influence on a generation of tenor players that included Chu Berry, Charlie Barnet, Tex Beneke, Ben Webster, Vido Musso, Herschel Evans, Buddy Tate, and Don Byas, and through them the later tenormen, Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Ike Quebec, Al Sears, Paul Gonsalves, and Lucky Thompson. While Hawkins became known with swing music during the big band era, he had a role in the development of bebop in the 1940s.
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Benjamin Francis Webster was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
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Soulville is a 1957 album by swing tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, recording a session from October 15, 1957, which Webster played with the Oscar Peterson Trio.
The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume Eight is an album by pianist Art Tatum and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, with Red Callender on double bass and Bill Douglass on drums. The 1956 session was originally released in 1958 on Verve Records album produced by Norman Granz as The Art Tatum - Ben Webster Quartet, but Granz re-acquired the masters in the 1970s after the album was allowed to go out of print. He reissued the material as one of a series of eight Group Masterpieces featuring Tatum in collaboration with other artists, also issuing it as part of a boxed set, The Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces. The album has been reissued on CD, including a January 31, 1992 version with bonus tracks.
The Individualism of Gil Evans is an album by pianist, conductor, arranger and composer Gil Evans originally released on the Verve label in 1964. It features Evans' big band arrangements of five original compositions and compositions by Kurt Weill, Bob Dorough, John Lewis and Willie Dixon.
Alone is an album by jazz musician Bill Evans, recorded in late-1968 for Verve Records.
Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, recorded for the MetroJazz label, later reissued on Verve Records as Sonny Rollins/Brass - Sonny Rollins/Trio.
The Lionel Hampton Art Tatum Buddy Rich Trio is a 1955 album by Lionel Hampton, Art Tatum and Buddy Rich for Norman Granz' Clef Records. The album has been re-issued on Verve as Tatum Hampton Rich and by Pablo as The Tatum Hampton Rich Trio and as Volume three of Pablo's series, The Tatum Group Masterpieces.
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This is the complete discography of the main 12-inch (8000) series of LPs issued by Verve Records, a label founded in 1956 by producer Norman Granz in Los Angeles, California. Alongside new sessions Granz re-released many of the recordings of his earlier labels Clef and Norgran on Verve.
Soul Sauce is an album by Latin jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader recorded in late 1964 and released on the Verve label.
Billy Hart Quartet is an album by American jazz drummer Billy Hart recorded in 2005 and released on the HighNote label.
Gerry Mulligan Meets Stan Getz is an album by American jazz saxophonists Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz featuring performances recorded in 1957 released on the Verve label.
Straight Ahead is an album by American jazz saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis with the Tommy Flanagan Trio recorded in 1976 and released on the Pablo label.
Music for Loving is an album by American jazz saxophonist Ben Webster with tracks recorded in 1954 and released by Norgran in 1955. The album was reissued in 1957 by Verve as Sophisticated Lady. In 1996 Verve released a double CD compiling the album with another Norgran LP, Music with Feeling, and one by Harry Carney, Harry Carney with Strings which was first released by Clef.
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Pianist Art Tatum recorded commercially from 1932 until near his death. He recorded nearly 400 titles, if airchecks and informal, private recordings are included. He recorded for Brunswick (1933), Decca (1934–41), Capitol and for the labels associated with Norman Granz (1953–56).