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From Smack to Duke (1934–1940) According to Ben, he was probably chosen to replace Hawkins because at the time he sounded very much like his idol. A few of Henderson’s musicians were at the legendary jam session at the Cherry Blossom in December 1933. Basie recalls bassist John Kirby being there, and trombonist Claude Jones was probably there as well. Ben has said that “it was Claude Jones, the trombone player, who told Fletcher: ‘You’ve overlooked the fellow who’s always admired Hawk and tries to play like him all the way.’ That was me, and I got the job.”1 Upon his arrival in New York, Ben—just as Lester Young before him—stayed with Fletcher Henderson and his wife Leora in their spacious white house on 139th Street in Harlem. Henderson’s orchestra played the Savoy Ballroom in the week of July 14, which suggests that Ben played his ‹rst job with the band at that venue, and that Hammond may well have heard him on that occasion. Fletcher “Smack” Henderson (1897–1952) led an out‹t that had experienced a transition from an ordinary dance band in the mid-1920s to the most in›uential of the early big bands. In the beginning Henderson did no arranging himself, but relied on Don Redman and later Henderson’s brother Horace. However, when it became necessary to try his hand at it, he revealed a natural talent. In their arrangements of popular music, both Henderson brothers set a standard imitated by more or less every other big band. Fletcher Henderson had a ‹ne ear for new talent as well, and his orchestra always featured some of the best soloists and sidemen of the day. Ben’s encounter with Henderson’s music was something of a culture shock, for he was forced headlong into fairly advanced reading. “Frankly, Fletcher Henderson was the only band I was afraid to join, when 4. 30 I heard how dif‹cult his music was,” he recalled. “You see, his practice then was to play in every key of the keyboard. Maybe starting off playing in B-›at nice and easy, and when you looked down at the middle of the chorus, you looked at six sharps!”2 Russell Procope was of great help to Ben during that ‹rst hard period. The orchestra didn’t rehearse before the Savoy Ballroom or during the run, but as Ben said, “He [Procope] would tell me to take my book home and the next day he would come around and help me with the arrangements.”3 The band on the whole, and the saxophone section in particular, welcomed the exchange of Lester Young and Ben. Procope recalled that Lester’s sound left a big void, a big hole in the sound of the band. After Lester left, you know, everybody agreed that Ben Webster had the big sound, he had the tone. Ben could play pretty, and he had a tone which Coleman had and Lester didn’t have. Lester’s style was sort of new, but we weren’t paying too much attention to his style as we did to how he sounded. It wasn’t what he played, it was how he played it, you see, and Ben actually had the big sound of Coleman Hawkins. Because you must remember then that a reed section was just a tenor and two altos. Then Lester made it sound like three altos. All due respect to Lester Young. Yeah. That was the difference in sound.4 Guitarist Lawrence Lucie offers an explanation as to why Henderson ’s orchestra sounded so good. “The music was in all the hard keys, like A major and E major. Most of the other bands played in F, B-›at and E-›at, but Fletcher made his band sound better. He gave it a more brilliant sound [by using sharp keys that other bands didn’t use]. And it was easy for Fletcher because he was a natural musician. But it required top players to play that music. Ben had so much trouble, so he worked really hard with the arrangements. He never would be drinking, he would be thinking all the time on the music.”5 While Ben was welcomed to Henderson’s orchestra and accepted the musical challenge, he was sorely missed in Kansas City, not least by Mary Lou Williams. “Until he had gone I didn’t realize how much I would miss him,” she said. “Then...

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