After Hours

Ben Webster. How Long Has This Been Going On?

Here we have Ben Webster playing somewhere in Scandinavia during the sixties. Accompanying are competent bassist Nils Henning Orsted Pederson, the marvelous Kenny Drew on piano and some drummer. Although Ben was very good at big, loud, take-no-prisoners playing, his most memorable tunes as a bandleader are ballads. I like his slow tunes, because he exhibits a lot of patience in waiting for any given chart to open up for a lyrical turn. It's a very admirable thing to have. Me, I'm totally impatient. I'll just jump into the changes, because if I don't, the guys in the band will think something's wrong and then something weird will happen. Yeah, I blame the rest of the band for everything. I'm sure Ben did the same.