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Ben Webster/Stan Tracey

Soho Nights Vol. 1

Resteamed RSJ 106

Playing what fellow tenorman Simon Spillett's excellent sleeve notes refer to as 'a typical autumnal Ben Webster set', the great saxophonist is joined by Stan Tracey (piano), Dave Green (bass) and Tony Crombie (drums) for this January 1968 recording, taken from two sets played at Ronnie Scott's, where Tracey was house pianist.

Previously unissued ­ and future releases from the same source are set to feature Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Deuchar and others ­ this album contains a good deal of Ellington or Strayhorn material (which Spillett rightly calls 'the thread linking Webster and Tracey') and the odd standard; whatever he's playing, though, Webster displays the mature, ripe, characterful sound that made him what Ronnie Scott calls him in his announcements: 'everybody's favourite tenor player'.

To balance his familiar abrasive, querulous up- and mid-tempo tone, Webster has an affecting fluting high-register sound and his trademark breathy vibrato (especially effective on 'Londonderry Air' and 'Come Sunday' here), and Tracey, too, showcases his own utterly distinctive tripping, pleasingly clangorous, pungent approach in his solo spots. Selflessly driven by Green and Crombie, this is highly individual, informally idiosyncratic music from two great originals.