Webster Young dies

[brownie]

Sad news for admirers of this little know - but excellent - trumpet player.

From AP:

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ Jazz trumpeter Webster Young, who played with greats such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane in the 1950s, died Saturday of a brain tumor. He was 71.

Young's career got an early boost when Louis Armstrong took him as a student when he was 10 years old. As a teenager, Young jammed with Dizzy Gillespie, earning the nickname "Little Diz" in Washington D.C.-area clubs for a style that resembled Gillespie's.

Young broke into the modern jazz scene in New York City in the late 1950s, recording several albums. He returned to Washington D.C. in the 1970s to raise his family. He toured in Europe in the 1980s and performed regularly at jazz clubs until eight months before his death.

Young's career peaked in 1957, when he played coronet with John Coltrane for the album "Interplay for Two Trumpets and Two Tenors" for the Prestige record label.

The session was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, N.J., known as a hotbed for modern jazz at the time, said Carl Woideck, a jazz historian at the University of Oregon School of Music.

Although artists were typically paid minimal salaries for their three-hour sessions, recordings from the Van Gelder studio are prized by jazz aficionados today, Woideck said.

[mikeweil]

Sad news indeed. If a musician was under-recorded it was Webster Young. He was born December 3, 1932, in Columbia, SC. Not a spectacular player but very, very lyrical, and his Billie Holiday tribute is one of the most moving ever recorded. I'll always cherish the Prestige sessions he did:

... and, of course, some Jackie McLean sessions for Prestige and Jubilee, scattered over four LPs. VGM published three LPs of a live session in St. Louis, "Webster Young Plays The Miles Davis Songbook" - that seems to be all there is.

RIP.

Edited December 18, 2003 by mikeweil

[brownie]

Webster Young was on that Jackie McLean session which was spread over several albums including 'A Long Drink of the Blues', one of those marvellous and informal Prestige jam sessions.

Will have to give a fresh listen to those Webster Young Plays Miles VGM LPs! Remember them as being sort of on the off side.

[Dave James]

Another one gone. Seems like every time you turn around these days, you're crossing another name off the list. In this case, though, I guess I'm not surprised. I heard an interview with Mr. Young several months ago on our local jazz station here in Portland, KMHD. He did not sound well. I'm with Mike on "For Lady". A nice one all around. Sure makes you wonder why someone with his talent was so under-recorded.

Up over and out.

[sheldonm]

This is very sad indeed, not very well know to the masses but a wonderful player non the less.

[doubleM]

I had a chance to see him play at my neighborhood jazz club about 6 months ago, but couldn't make it. I heard he still had it, even then. RIP, pops.

[JohnS]

Very sad. For the record I've always likes the VGM lps.

[bertrand]

A benefit was held in D.C. a few weeks ago to help defray his medical costs. I was given his number at the V.A. hospital, but I hesitated to call - I knew he was very ill at that point, and I wasn't sure it would be such a good idea for me to call; I knew him pretty well, but I was not one of his close friends. I hope I made the right decision.

It was an honor to have known Webster - he was a very intelligent and warm person, and he touched all of us in the D.C. jazz community deeply.

The Washington Post obituary mentions a soundtrack for a play he would have done in the mid-70s with Jackie which I am not familiar with - I need to investigate

this. It does not show up in any McLean discography.

Bertrand.

[jazzkrow]

I did make that show in Portland 6 mos ago-and he DID still have it. His back-up group did know it was an honor to be on the bandstand with him-unlike the young crowd behind me who talked and carried on during his set, not realizing his name and history. I was sure glad I was in the first row being so glad to be in this little local club with Webster. One more reason to not pass up any opportunity to see the masters before they are all gone..

I knew he had moved to Portland to be with his son, but not that he was gravely ill.

I had hoped to see him again-now I know why he never played here again.

RIP Webster

[sidewinder]

RIP, sorry to hear this news. Wasn't there mention on the BNBB that Webster Young was in the original planned lineup for Moncur's 'Evolution'?

[bertrand]

Yes indeed, but it will not be mentioned in any of the obits!

Bertrand.

[ghost of miles]

Very sad news indeed. I picked up FOR LADY on Joe Milazzo's board recommedation sometime ago and have enjoyed it greatly--I'm sorry he didn't get more of a chance to record.

[king ubu]

Sad news! I don't know much of his records, but I will certainly look out for the Prestiges!

I have this one:

And it is good. Young's contribution maybe the highlight.

I don't know if it's still available from Freshsound (it's temporarily out of stock right now).

ubu

[Late]

Listening to For Lady right now. I wonder if Young met and/or ever played with Holiday.

[mikeweil]

He was born in 1932, so he had a chance to see her perform.

Paul Quinichette definitely did play and record with Lady Day - this LP was part of a series of dates he did for Prestige at the time. Maybe they just didn't want to list him as a leader or co-leader each time. To me that cover, I mean the way the names are laid out, resembles these Prestige All-Star dates.

Too bad I don't have that LP anymore ... did Young write any of the tunes, or Quinichette?

Edited July 9, 2008 by mikeweil

[mikeweil]

Well, I will know in a week or two - found a copy at a decent price.

[mikeweil]

Still thinking about the For Lady album: Didn't Mal Waldron write some, arrangements and/or tunes? Now he was Lady Day's last pianist. The more I think about it, the more it looks like an all-star tribute to Lady Day, with as many players on it that actually performed with her as possible for a label like Prestige. Waldron and Quinichette is a pretty good choice!

Webster Young just happens to be the first name on the cover and we tend to think of trumpeters as leaders ... I am aware it is listed as Young's date in the Prestige disco, just some thinking out aloud.

[Stereojack]

Webster Young just happens to be the first name on the cover and we tend to think of trumpeters as leaders ... I am aware it is listed as Young's date in the Prestige disco, just some thinking out aloud.

Looking at the front cover, one can assume that this is an all star date with no leader, something Prestige did regularly. On the back cover however, Young's name is shown in much larger type at the top, like this:

WEBSTER YOUNG, cornet

with

Paul Quinichette, tenor sax Joe Puma, guitar Mal Waldron, piano

Earl May, bass Ed Thigpen, drums

Five of the tunes are songs associated with Billie Holiday. The title track is a Webster Young original composition. Mal Waldron contributed two arrangements to the date.

[bruce talbot]

Such a great album - I haven't heard it for years but it's one of those whose memory stays with you. Particularly fine Paul, as I recall.

[randyhersom]

It may have been here that I read that Webster was on call in case Lee Morgan couldn't make Grachan Moncur's Evolution record date. Fine player.

[AllenLowe]

it's been a while but I recall that Webster Young's playing was not very good on that Billie Holiday record - I like much better the bootleg LPs I have of jam sessions in 'DC -

[jazztrain]

Working from home today, so you're in luck with an answer:

Webster Young wrote one of the tunes. Quinichette did not write any of them.

Here are the tunes and composers as listed on the album:

The Lady (Webster Young)

God Bless The Child (Holiday - Herzog)

Moanin' Low (Rainger - Dietz)

Good Morning Heartache (Higginbotham - Drake - Fischer)

Don't Explain (Holiday - Herzog)

Strange Fruit (Lewis Allan)

My understanding is that "Lewis Allan" was a pseudonym for Abel Meeropol. Also, note that the Higginbotham associated with Good Morning Heartache is not the trombonist but rather Irene Higginbotham (which could reopen the whole Irene Higginbotham/Kitchings thread covered elsewhere).

He was born in 1932, so he had a chance to see her perform.

Paul Quinichette definitely did play and record with Lady Day - this LP was part of a series of dates he did for Prestige at the time. Maybe they just didn't want to list him as a leader or co-leader each time. To me that cover, I mean the way the names are laid out, resembles these Prestige All-Star dates.

Too bad I don't have that LP anymore ... did Young write any of the tunes, or Quinichette?

[CJ Shearn]

RIP, he played fine on "Interplay".

[mikeweil]

Thanks all, got my copy of "For Lady" this morning, and saw the credits like you posted. A Webster Young session, no doubt. And I agree, he sounds a bit shaky in spots. Still, a very nice album, and one of the most fitting Lady Day tributes of all.

BTW - the CD already bears the Universal imprint, so this was re-pressed and is not in danger to become deleted.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

Ray Draper - Tuba Sounds (Prestige PRLP 7096)

Webster Young (tp) Ray Draper (tu) Jackie McLean (as) Mal Waldron (p) Spanky DeBrest (b) Ben Dixon (d) Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, March 15, 19571143 House Of Davis 1144 Terry Ann 1145 You're My Thrill 1146 Pivot 1147 Jackie's Dolly 1148 Mimi's Interlude ** also issued on Fantasy OJCCD 1936-2.

WHY HAVE I NEVER SEEN, HEARD, HEARD SOMEONE TALK ABOUT, MENTION, MENTION IN CONTEXT OF JACKIE MCLEAN, ETC- THIS ALBUM. WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL OF ALL THINGS THAT ARE HOLY IS GOING ON WITH THIS- SO IT *IS* REISSUED IN OJC I SEE? WAS IT THE SPECIAL ISSUE OJC SERIES OR OJC REGULAR. IS IT BETTER THAN THE JACKIE MCLEAN LED ONES?