Ben Webster – Days Of Wine And Roses (1965-1967)

This album is a selection of recordings made by Ben Webster after he had moved to Europe late 1964. In 1964 Ben Webster had lost his popularity in the USA because jazz was no longer popular music; Rock and Roll was top of the bill. Ben had sever financial problems, because he spent more money than he earned and didn't found gigs, because he asked too much money to perform. It was a luck for him that Ronnie Scott, the famous London saxophone player asked him to come to London for an engagement in his Ronny Scott Jazz Club for one month and in December 1964 Ben shipped in in New York heading for London. He didn't like to fly by plane, so he took the boat. On the 20th of December 1964 he played with Stan Tracey at the piano, Rick Laird on bass and Jackie Dougan on drums at the Marquee Club in London for the BBC TV program Jazz 625. Ben Webster played for one month at the Ronnie Scott Jazz Club and enjoyed London. He learned that he was still the big star, so when the gig was over he didn't return to the States, but took some more gigs in England, Sweden, Norway and finally found a new home in Copenhagen, Denmark. He lived there for some time, and made some tours to places like Paris, London, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Manchester, and recorded with the Arnvid Meyer 's Orchestra, in fact a sextet. Some of these recordings are on this album. Arnvid Meyer, who passed away in August 2007), 80 years old, was a Danish trumpet player and bandleader who accompanied and recorded numerous US guests, like Benny Carter, Bill Coleman, Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. His mainstream sextet sounded a bit like Ellington's small 1930s groups, Ben recorded with in the early 1940s. Ben would never return to the US and stayed in Europe, living in both Copenhagen and Amsterdam, where he died September 20, 1973.

Tracklist:

01. Days Of Wine And Roses
02. Blue Light
03. Stompy Jones
04. Pound Horn
05. For Max
06. Brother John's Blues
07. Nancy (With The Laughing Face)'
08. Duke's In Bed
09. What's I'm Gotchere
10. My Romance
11. Bill Coleman

Tracks 01, 02, 03, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10 recorded at Metronome Studios, Copenhagen, September 1965

Personnel:
Ben Webster - Tenor Saxophone
Arnved Meyer - Trumpet
John Darville - Trombone
Ole Kongsted - Tenor Saxophone
Niels Jorgen Steen - Piano
Hendrik Hartmann - Bass
Hans Nymand - Drums

Tracks 04, 05, 11 recorded at Olympic Studios, London, 27th April 1967

Personnel:
Ben Webster - Tenor Saxophone
Bill Coleman - Trumpet & Flügelhorn
Jim Douglas - Guitar
Fred Hunt - Piano
Ron Rae - Bass
Lennie Hastings – Drums

Sound Quality: 8/9