ベン・ウェブスター (Ben Webster)

Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Known affectionately as "The Brute", he had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he would play with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was heavily indebted to Hawkins, particularly for his low, muscular tone and his vibrato. But Webster was also significantly different from his main influence in that his sound was sleeker, less aggressive, and much more spacious.

Webster learned to play piano and violin at an early age, before learning to play the saxophone, although he did return to the piano from time to time even recording on the instrument occasionally. Once Budd Johnson showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster began to play that instrument in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young). Kansas City at this point was a melting pot from which would emerge some of the biggest names in 1930's jazz, and Webster joined Bennie Moten's legendary 1932 band that included Count Basie, Oran Page and Walter Page. This era has been recreated in Robert Altman's film Kansas City...
(Wikipedia: Ben Webster)