JOE WILLIAMS
Havin' A Good Time (featuring Ben Webster) (Hyena)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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While some of the best ballad singers have voices often described as like honey, Joe Williams had a voice like gravy, thick and rich, made with pure cream and just enough butter. Sure, he could handle a high tempo, and deserves more credit than he's usually granted in the genesis of rock 'n roll, but Joe Williams was an absolute, if not the undisputed, master of the jazz ballad.

Vocally, that is. There were other masters on other instruments, and on the tenor saxophone among Williams' counterparts in mastery the name Ben Webster has to come up. The circumstances that brought the two together in the middle of a Rhode Island blizzard in the winter of 1964 are uncertain. It was Williams' gig, with a trio that featured Junior Mance on piano, with drummer Mickey Roker and bassist Bob Cranshaw. Incredibly, when they arrived, there sat Ben Webster, unannounced, horn in hand, ready to play.

It's almost incredibly lucky for us that there was a tape recorder on hand, and that the tapes were of such generally high quality for club recordings of the time. Through arrangements with the Hamilton College Jazz Archives, home of Williams' archives, Joel Dorn and Hyena Records have made this historic recording available, and if you're a fan of jazz vocals, jazz ballads, jazz in general, that should be all you need to know.

It's the archival release of the year, so far, and it's been a pretty good year...

Track List:

Just A Sittin' And A Rockin' * Kansas City Blues * By The River St. Marie * That's All * Alone Together * I'm Through With Love * The Great City * A Hundred Years From Today * Ain't Misbehavin' * Honeysuckle Rose * Alright, OK, You Win * Have A Good Time * Band Intro and Goodbye

© 2005 - Shaun Dale