Editing Ben Webster (section)

== Career ==
=== Early life and career ===

A native of [[Kansas City, Missouri]],<ref name="Larkin" /> he studied [[violin]], learned how to play [[blues]] on the piano from [[Pete Johnson (musician)|Pete Johnson]], and received saxophone lessons from [[Budd Johnson]].<ref name="Yanow">{{cite web |last1=Yanow |first1=Scott |title=Ben Webster |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ben-webster-mn0000793227/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=June 8, 2020}}</ref> He played with [[Lester Young]] in the Young Family Band.<ref name="Yanow" /><ref name="rough">{{cite book |title=The Rough Guide to Jazz |date=2004 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1-84353-256-9 |pages=845–846 |edition=3rd}}</ref> He recorded with [[Blanche Calloway]] and became a member of the [[Bennie Moten]] Orchestra with [[Count Basie]], [[Hot Lips Page]], and [[Walter Page]].<ref name="Yanow" /><ref>{{cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanbigbands00leew/page/71 71] |title=American Big Bands|author=Lee, William F. |year=2005 |publisher=Hal Leonard |isbn=978-0-634-08054-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanbigbands00leew/page/71}}</ref> During the 1930s, he played in bands led by [[Willie Bryant]], [[Benny Carter]], [[Cab Calloway]], [[Fletcher Henderson]], [[Andy Kirk (musician)|Andy Kirk]], and [[Teddy Wilson]].<ref name="Yanow" />

=== With Ellington ===
Webster was a soloist with the [[Duke Ellington Orchestra]] starting in 1940, appearing on "Cotton Tail".<ref name="Yanow" /> He considered [[Johnny Hodges]], an alto saxophonist in the Ellington Orchestra, a major influence on his playing.<ref name="Chilton">{{cite book |last1=Chilton |first1=John |title=Sidney Bechet: The Wizard of Jazz |date=1996 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-80678-9 |page=289}}</ref> [[Gunther Schuller]] wrote in 1989, that Hodges' influence pushed him away from his original inspiration by Coleman Hawkins.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schuller|first=Gunther|title=The Swing Era: The Development Of Jazz, 1930–1945|location=New York City|publisher=Oxford University Press|orig-year=1989|year= 2005|page=795|isbn=978-0-19-507140-5}}</ref> Webster became close to [[Jimmy Blanton]] and [[Billy Strayhorn]], the other two newcomers to Ellington's orbit.<ref>{{cite book|last=Büchmann-Møller|first=Frank|title=Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster|location=Ann Arbor, MI|publisher=The University of Michigan Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-472-11470-2}}</ref>

Webster's personality, however, proved difficult for most members of the orchestra and for Ellington. It was not possible, according to [[Mercer Ellington]], for his father and the saxophonist to be in the same room without an argument developing. Webster cried when he heard Blanton had died, but as baritone player [[Harry Carney]] recalled, "After he had a drink or two, he'd change".<ref name="AHL2001">{{cite book|last=Lawrence|first=A.H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5IflVdS5XgC&dq=%22A.H.+Lawrence%22+%22After+he+had+a+drink+or+two,+he%27d+change%22&pg=PA321|title=Duke Ellington and His World|location=New York City & London|publisher=Routledge|year=2001|page=321|isbn=978-0-415-93012-3}}</ref> Webster left the band in 1943.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jazz.fm/that-eric-alper-october-14-2011/|title=That Eric Alper!|date=October 14, 2011|publisher=[[CJRT-FM]]|access-date=May 5, 2019}}</ref> Reportedly, he cut one of Ellington's sports jackets with a razor as one of his last acts as a member of the Ellington orchestra.<ref name="AHL2001" /> [[Clark Terry]] said the departure was because Webster slapped Ellington.<ref>Zan Stewart interview with Clark Terry, Aug. 2003 for article in Newark Star-Ledger, September 28, 2003, "The Elder Statesman of Swing."</ref>

=== Later American career ===
Webster worked on [[52nd Street (Manhattan)|52nd Street]] in New York City, where he recorded frequently as a leader and sideman.<ref name="Yanow" /><ref>{{cite book |page=211 |title=Jazz Musicians of the Early Years, to 1945 |author=Dicaire, David|year=2003|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8556-7}}</ref> During this time he worked with [[Raymond Scott]], [[John Kirby (musician)|John Kirby]], [[Bill DeArango]], [[Sid Catlett]], [[Jay McShann]], and [[Jimmy Witherspoon]]. For a few months in 1948, he returned briefly to Ellington's orchestra.

In 1953, he recorded ''The Consummate Artistry of Ben Webster'' (now known as ''[[King of the Tenors]]'') with pianist [[Oscar Peterson]], who would be an important collaborator with Webster throughout the decade in his recordings for the various labels of [[Norman Granz]].<!-- Verve was founded in 1956. --> Along with Peterson, trumpeter [[Harry Edison|Harry "Sweets" Edison]] and others, he was touring and recording with Granz's [[Jazz at the Philharmonic]] package. In 1956, he recorded an album with pianist [[Art Tatum]], supported by bassist [[Red Callender]] and drummer [[Bill Douglass]]. ''[[Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster]]'' with fellow tenor saxophonist [[Coleman Hawkins]] was recorded on December 16, 1957, along with Peterson, [[Herb Ellis]] (guitar), [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]] (bass), and [[Alvin Stoller]] (drums). The Hawkins and Webster recording saw the coming together of two giants of the tenor saxophone, who had first met back in Kansas City.

In the late 1950s, he formed a quintet with [[Gerry Mulligan]] and played frequently at a club in Los Angeles called Renaissance. It was there that the Webster-Mulligan group backed up blues singer [[Jimmy Witherspoon]] on an album recorded live for the Hi-Fi Jazz label.<ref>Bob Porter, "Portraits in Blue," broadcast August 2, 2014, on WBGO radio.</ref> That same year, 1959, the quintet, with pianist [[Jimmy Rowles]], bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Mel Lewis, also recorded ''[[Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster]]'' for [[Verve Records]].<ref>Michael Ruppli, "The Complete Norgran, Clef and Verve Recordings, Vol. 2.(Greenwood Press)</ref>

=== In Europe ===
Webster worked steadily, but in late 1964 he moved to Europe, working with other expatriate American jazz musicians and local musicians. He played when he pleased during his last decade. He lived in London and several locations in Scandinavia for one year, followed by three years in Amsterdam, and made his last home in Copenhagen in 1969.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Big Ben|date=August 20, 2001|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/08/20/big-ben-2|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref> Webster appeared as a sax player in a low-rent cabaret club in the 1970 Danish [[Pornographic film|blue film]] titled ''[[Quiet Days in Clichy (1970 film)|Quiet Days in Clichy]]''. In 1971, Webster reunited with [[Duke Ellington]] and his orchestra for a couple of shows at the [[Tivoli Gardens]] in Copenhagen; he also recorded "live" in France with [[Earl Hines]].<ref>LP issued as Hines's ''Tune in France'' with [[Don Byas]], [[Roy Eldridge]], [[Stuff Smith]], [[Kenny Clarke]] and [[Jimmy Woode]].</ref> He also recorded or performed with Buck Clayton, Bill Coleman and Teddy Wilson.

Webster suffered a [[stroke]] in Amsterdam in September 1973, following a performance at the Twee Spieghels in [[Leiden]], and died on September 20. His body was cremated in Copenhagen and his ashes were buried in the [[Assistens Cemetery (Copenhagen)|Assistens Cemetery]] in the [[Nørrebro]] section of the city.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.scandinaviastandard.com/scandi-six-graves-in-assistens-kirkegard/|title=Six Graves to Know in Copenhagen's Assistens Kirkegård|work=Scandinavia Standard|date=May 7, 2016|access-date=May 5, 2019}}</ref>

Webster's private collection of jazz recordings and memorabilia is archived in the [[jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark]], Odense.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sdu.dk/en/bibliotek/materialer/om+samlingerne/jazz|title=The jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark|access-date=May 5, 2019}}</ref>

Ben Webster used the same saxophone from 1938 until his death in 1973. He left instructions that the horn was never to be played again. It is on display in the [[Institute of Jazz Studies]] at [[Rutgers University–Newark|Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/27/archives/new-jersey-weekly-jazz-at-rutgers-lively-scholarship.html|author=Sullivan, Joseph F.|title=Jazz at Rutgers |work=The New York Times|date=May 27, 1979|page=NJ16}}</ref>

Ben Webster has a street named after him in southern Copenhagen, "Ben Websters Vej".<ref>{{cite news|title=When the Village Vanguard came to Denmark|author=Nic Liney|url=https://www.thelocal.dk/20160701/when-the-village-vanguard-came-to-denmark|date=July 1, 2016|access-date=May 5, 2019}}</ref>