Ben Webster’s Ben Webster And Associates is the latest to receive a vinyl reissue through Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series. Originally released in 1959, it is known for being Norman Granz’s last venture showcasing tenor saxophone icons Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins together.
The pair (who met in Webster’s hometown of Kansas City) first got together for 1957’s Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster. Webster, whose career spanned from the 1930s to his death in 1973, has played with Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, and many others. Granz, a staple figure in jazz music history, was the founder of the record labels Verve, Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Pablo, and the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series.
Other jazz greats who appear on the Ben Webster And Associates album are veteran saxophonist Budd Johnson (whom Webster received lessons from), trumpeter Roy Eldridge, guitarist Les Spann, pianist Jimmy Jones, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Jo Jones.
Ben Webster And Associates includes two standards, “Time After Time” and Duke Ellington’s sprawling, 20-minute “In a Mellow Tone,” plus three original compositions by Webster.
The Acoustic Sounds Series is Verve’s all-analog vinyl reissue series. It features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging. First launched in 2020, the series supplies audiophile-grade pressings of iconic jazz albums throughout history. The series includes LPs from legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee, Sonny Rollins, Mel Torme, Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and more.
Order Ben Webster And Associates on vinyl now.
