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

11. The Last Busy Years in Denmark (1969-1973)

The Last Busy Years in Denmark (1969–1973) Ben arrived in Copenhagen shortly before April 9, the opening night of his booking at Timme’s Club at Nørregade 41. The club had opened on the initiative of the Danish jazz journalist Timme Rosenkrantz in the fall of 1968 in premises formerly housing a nightclub called Adlon. Since 1934, Rosenkrantz had spent many years in New York, arranging recording sessions , concerts and jam sessions, and hosting jazz shows on the radio. Now he had settled in Denmark, and the opening of Timme’s Club was the ful‹llment of an old dream. Originally, Ben had been booked for only two weeks, but his visit was such a success that it was extended till May 17. He played extremely well, even on the ‹rst night, although he made excuses for being tired. On the opening night, one critic wrote that Ben’s performance was so relaxed and intimate that it was like being in his home.1 Ben had various accompanists during the six weeks. The only house musician was drummer Larry Reeves. The piano was played by Bent Schjærff, Niels Jørgen Steen, or Hans Fjeldsted, and the bass by either Erik Moseholm or Mogens “Gus” Jensen. Rosenkrantz’s girlfriend, vocalist Inez Cavanaugh, worked as hostess, but she would occasionally perform with Ben. During the booking at Timme’s Club, Ben lived in the storage room at the home of journalist Henrik Wolsgaard-Iversen and his wife, vocalist Rosita Thomas, whom he knew from previous stays in Copenhagen . They lived on the ‹fth ›oor on Nørre Farimagsgade 39, and Henrik ’s father, Herman Wolsgaard-Iversen, lived just below with his wife, vocalist Matty Peters from the vocal trio the Peters Sisters. With Bamse Kragh-Jacobsen, Herman owned Vingården, a restaurant offering jazz, 1 1. 268 and he often invited Ben to jam with the musicians on the bill. “Ben and my father became buddies,” Henrik Wolsgaard-Iversen recalls, “and they were just about the same age. My father lived precisely the life that Ben liked, full speed ahead. They would drive off in his open Porsche, Ben holding his hat, off to visit friends in the King’s Garden.”2 Ben did not want to return to Holland, so the search went in among his friends to ‹nd him a place to live. John Darville and Ben’s ophthalmologist , Dr. Godtfredsen, succeeded in ‹nding him an apartment in a newly built complex with elevators overlooking the lake, Peblingesøen, at Nørre Søgade 37B, ‹fth ›oor, apartment 53, not far from WolsgaardIversen . The janitor was Mr. Olsen, and he and Ben became good friends, although Olsen had problems with Ben’s last name; he always called him “Mr. Wesber.” “His apartment consisted of a large eat-in kitchen, also used as living room, and a large room which he made his bedroom,” WolsgaardIversen recalls. Most of the activity was in the big kitchen, sitting around the table. There was a bathroom with a tub “made for Japanese,” as he said. I once saw Ben in that small sit-up tub, and it was a funny sight. But he couldn’t get out of it. He had created a vacuum and was stuck, and called out, “Help, help!” And I had to go in and helped pull, and he came up with a big swuush! That apartment on Nørre Søgade was the ‹rst place Ben had of his own. That was the ‹rst time he had his name on a door. Earlier on he had lived in rented rooms and hotels, and in the Netherlands he had lived with Mrs. Hartlooper. But the apartment on Nørre Søgade was all his own. He had to unlock the door himself, and lock it when he left. Nobody went in there unless he let them in himself. Which meant that nobody cleaned either. He hadn’t thought of that, because other people used to do that for him, and he didn’t know how to wring a washrag or anything. So a while passed before he realized that he would need help. As far as I know, the janitor’s wife, Mrs. Olsen, would come in once in a while and muck out with a vacuum cleaner and washrag.3 269 The Last Busy Years in Denmark On May 19, 1969, Coleman Hawkins died...