Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could not have written this book without the help of many people and institutions. I managed to contact many musicians, friends, and others connected with Ben Webster, and it was a constant delight to discover how interested in the project everyone became. Many people went out of their way to help. First of all, I am grateful to Heinz Baumeister for his never failing support as a collector and discographer of Ben Webster. Without him my knowledge about the musician’s music would have been much narrower. He and Lars Boie Christiansen offered valuable comments on the contents of the manuscript. It was a pleasure to receive the understanding and support of the management and staff of the University Library of Southern Denmark and the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music, Odense. Without a grant from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs that allowed me to work part-time at home on the book for one and a half years, and also provided funding for a month’s stay in New York, the work would have taken much longer to ‹nish. In the United States I enjoyed help from everyone on the staff at the Institute of Jazz Studies— Dan Morgenstern, Ed Berger, Vincent Pelote, Tad Hershorn, John Clement, Annie Kuebler, and Esther Smith—and I am pleased to say that I returned to Denmark with much more information than I had ever dreamed of when I left. I also received much help from the jazz archives in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands. I acknowledge my great debt to the following persons for agreeing to be interviewed: Harold Ashby, Ben Besiakov, Egbert de Bloeme, Billy Brooks, Benny Carter, Al Casey, John Darville, Richard Davis, Hans Dulfer, Roman Dylag, Dave Frishberg, Dave Green, Mona Hinton, Jens Jefsen, Bent Jædig, Herluf Kamp-Larsen, Dick Katz, Bent Kauling, Torben Kjær, Lawrence Lucie, Arnvid Meyer, Dan Morgenstern, Birgit Nordtorp, Hans Nymand, Horace Parlan, Hugo Rasmussen, Ove Rex, Alex Riel, Hans Jacob Sahlertz, Harvey Sand, Tore Sandnæs, Lars Sjösten, Cees Slinger, Niels Jørgen Steen, Anders Stefansen, Bo Stief, Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Ed Thigpen, Jesper Thilo, Bert Vuijsje, Marlene Widmark, Jenny Wilkins, Henrik Wolsgaard-Iversen, Finn Ziegler, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. Also, a big thank you to the following persons who supported me with information, photos, and other help: Björn Alterhaug, Anthony Barnett , Johs Berg, Peter Broadbent, Tom Buhmann, Paul Bynens, John Chilton, Bill Crow, Jan Bruér, Otto Flückiger, John Jeremy, Poul Jørgensen , Chris Krenger, Seppo Lemponen, Per Møller Hansen, Klaus Nägeli, Jan Persson, Doris Gahner Petersen, Ulf Renberg, Han Schulte, Thorbjørn Sjøgren, Jack Towers, Jeroen de Valk, Al Vollmer, Nils Winther, and Theo Zwicky. In this respect Arild Wideröe was outstanding , constantly ‹nding new information from Ben Webster’s tours in Switzerland in the form of concert dates, advertising and promotion materials, concert reviews, and so forth. Nellie Manford translated Italian articles to Danish for me, while I translated the quotations from Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, German, and French. Finally, the translation into English has been possible only because of generous grants from the Ben Webster Foundation, the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music, and the University Library of Southern Denmark . Special thanks to Paul Banks for his great translating job, and to my editors Chris Hebert and Lewis Porter for their valuable support in all matters related to the publication of the book. Grateful acknowledgment is given to Theo Zwicky, mr.jazz Photo Files, Zurich, Switzerland, for permission to reproduce the following photos (in order of appearance). Jap Allen and His Orchestra, by W. Bert Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys, Stiger Photo Andy Kirk’s 12 Clouds of Joy Willie Bryant and His Orchestra Teddy Wilson’s Big Band Ben Webster Quartet 1946 A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S x Al Hall Quintet Part of Count Basie All Stars Jimmy Witherspoon, Albert Nicholas, and Ben Webster Grateful acknowledgment is also given to the Ben Webster Collection, University Library of Southern Denmark, Odense, for permission to reproduce the following photos (in order of appearance). Ben Webster, Alan Dawson, Larry Richardson, and Horace Parlan Ben Webster skiing Ronnie Scott at Chelsea Bridge Grethe Kemp Pori Jazz Festival 1967 “Hi Eddie” score “Jaw is Bookin’ Now” score Ben Webster in the studio 1968 Ben with friends 1970 Grateful acknowledgment...