Title: 1944-1946 Artist: Ben Webster Release Date: 1/12/1999 Label: Classics Duration: 64:45 Album Type(s): Greatest Hits UPCs: 3307517101723, 723723422620 Genre: Jazz Styles: Ballads, Swing, Traditional Pop Moods: Amiable/Good-Natured, Earthy, Exuberant, Joyous, Complex, Elegant, Freewheeling, Passionate, Stylish, Boisterous, Gentle Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 1 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Woke up Clipped
2. Teezol
3. 'Nuff Said
4. The Horn (I Got Rhythm)
5. Dirty Deal
6. Don't Blame Me
7. I Surrender, Dear
8. Tea for Two
9. Perdido
10. I Surrender, Dear
11. Broke But Happy
12. Blues on the Bayou
13. Jumpin' With Judy
14. Blues on the Delta
15. Honeysuckle Rose
16. I Surrender, Dear
17. Blue Skies
18. Kat's Fur
19. Blues in My Heart
20. Emaline
21. Am I Blue
22. Rose of the Rio Grande

Year Type Label Catalog # 1999 CD Classics 1017

No other editions were found for this album.

Most Ben Webster albums on the market today seem to be reissues from his magnificent autumnal years, majestically lush or bearishly brusque. It's good to have a chronological sampling of Webster's work from the mid-'40s, in order to appreciate exactly how he developed into the Ben Webster of 1959 and 1969. After popping up on early big band swing records by Bennie Moten and Willie Bryant, Webster came into his own as the first really exceptional tenor saxophonist to be featured with Duke Ellington's Orchestra. What we have here is the post-Ellington Ben Webster. His tone has gotten bigger and wider, grittily sensuous and invariably warm like a pulse in the jugular. The first eight tracks were made for radio broadcast purposes in February of 1944. The combination of Hot Lips Page and Ben Webster is a bitch. There are strolling romps with titles like "Woke Up Clipped," "Dirty Deal" and "'Nuff Said," lively stomps built on to the changes of "Tea for Two" and "I Got Rhythm," and two choice examples of Webster developing his ballad chops. "Perdido," from a quartet session recorded near the end of March 1944, is positively stunning. Webster has definitely tapped into something primal, and no one can hear him without being at least partially transformed by the sounds of his saxophone. April Fool's day, 1944 found Webster in the company of tenors Budd Johnson and Walter "Foots" Thomas, with trumpeter Emmett Berry and a modern rhythm section. "Broke but Happy" is a sweet jaunt, real solid, especially when the saxes take over in unison. But the main reason to get your own copy of Classics 1017 is to have the Savoy session of April 17th, 1944. Gracefully accompanied by Johnny Guarnieri, Oscar Pettiford and David Booth, Webster blows four of the greatest three-minute recordings of his entire career. "Kat's Fur" is a goosed up, improved version of "'Nuff Said." "I Surrender Dear" runs even deeper than the two other versions included on this disc. "Honeysuckle Rose" and especially "Blue Skies" each represent Ben Webster at his toughest and truest. This is a rare blend of musk, and it's not synthetic. It's the real thing. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide

Name Credits Al Hall Bass Anatol Schenker Liner Notes Ben Webster Sax (Tenor), Main Performer Big Sid Catlett Drums Budd Johnson Sax (Tenor) Charles Drayton Bass Clyde Hart Piano Cozy Cole Drums David Booth Drums Denzil Best Drums Dick Vance Trumpet Emmett Berry Trumpet Hot Lips Page Trumpet Jimmy Jones Piano John Simmons Bass Johnny Guarnieri Piano Marlowe Morris Piano Oscar Pettiford Bass Walter "Foots" Thomas Sax (Tenor)