My Album Of The Week – ‘Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster’

I am a major fan of Ben Webster‘s music. His rendition of “When I Fall In Love” is love in its purest essence. When I found out Coleman Hawkins had recorded an album with Webster, well, you can just imagine my excitement to see if the meeting of two of the greatest saxophone tenors in jazz history was musical bliss. To boot, Oscar Peterson, my favorite jazz pianist is the pianist at-large. What a trio. Does it really get any better than them?

So far every song from top to bottom has delivered. The highlight is “Prisoner of Love,” written in 1931 by Leo Robin and recorded first by Perry Como in 1945 as a hit. Vocally, no one has recorded a better version than Sinatra (Sinatra and Strings, 1962) though, and this means no disrespect to Como or Billy Eckstine. Interpretation is what Sinatra has over everybody and Hawkins and Webster exude that in one of the better jazz albums I’ve ever heard.

Here’s the song playlist:

“Blues for Yolande” (Coleman Hawkins) – 6:44
“It Never Entered My Mind” (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 5:47
“La Rosita” (Paul Dupont, Allan Stuart) – 5:02
“You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” (Cole Porter) – 4:15
“Prisoner of Love” (Russ Columbo, Clarence Gaskill, Leo Robin) – 4:13
“Tangerine” (Johnny Mercer, Victor Schertzinger) – 5:21
“Shine On, Harvest Moon” (Jack Norworth, Nora Bayes) – 4:49

Have a listen, explore, indulge and enjoy.

– Jack

‘Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster’