Ben Webster Plays Ballads ( HQ vinyl LP )

Release: 2020 (originally released in 1964-71)

2020 EU remaster HQ 180g vinyl LP - compilation - This album is made up of selected live and radio broadcasts with the Danish Radio Big Band and Swedish, British and Danish/American small groups during 1964-71.

As the title indicates only ballads are included on the album, and, for the first time on a Ben Webster ballad album, there is no string-section accompaniment.

Three of the ten numbers are previously unreleased. The art of ballad-playing was all-important to Ben Webster. He once said “Remember, there are only three tempi in jazz – slow, medium and slow!” While all the tunes are ballads, the wide variety and constellations give a wonderful, multi-faceted sound-picture of Ben Webster.

Tracks:
A1 Stardust 6:22
A2 Cry Me A River 4:12
A3 For Heavens Sake 7:48
A4 Greensleeves 2:22
B1 My Romance 8:34
B2 Willow Weep For Me 5:17
B3 Old Folks 7:28

Ben Webster (ts), Ole Koch Hansen, Kenny Drew, Stan Tracy, Lasse Sjøsten (p), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Hugo Rasmussen, Rick Laird, Sture Nordin (b), Makaya Ntsoko, William Schiøpffe, Al Heath, Jackie Dougan, Bjarne Rostvold (dr)

Storyville Records is Europe’s oldest independent jazz label. It releases a rich variety of jazz, blues and related musicalgenres, often accompanied by authoritative notes and rare extras. This iconic label was founded in 1952 in Denmark and today continues to augment its historic catalogue of recordings made by American jazz and blues legends with new releases from contemporary jazz artists.