Music Monday ~~ Greatest Sax Voices in Jazz

Jazz was a closed book to me, until I met Himself (my husband). It's still a book open only at Chapter One. The jazz I enjoy most is the kind one might hear in a dark cellar bar, late at night, drink at hand - not too strident, not a cacophony of sound, but creative interpretation - making a familiar tune different, yet the same, exploring it and embellishing it.

Now and again Music Monday will feature a trio of jazz icons, instrument by instrument, with brief astro detail along with an occasional link to archived posts or other sources.

Kicking off with my own favourite instrument: the saxophone. Saxes come in 2 main sax "voices": tenor and alto (there are 3rd and 4th fourth, less common, types too: baritone and soprano).

If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it’s like the human voice. – Stan Getz

Because we're considering jazz, and jazz is arguably the most inventive of all musical genres, astrologically I'd expect to see Neptune (creativity) and/or Uranus (invention, innovation) linked somehow to personal planets - Mercury (communication) and/or Venus (music), or natal Sun or Moon. I guess we should bear in mind that Neptune also connects to addictive tendencies - something that troubled many of the greatest jazz talents.

I have no birth times for these artists, so 12 noon charts are shown below, so the rising sign/degree will not be accurate; position of the Moon will not be exactly as shown.


THE TENOR SAXOPHONE

Ben Webster (nickname: The Brute/Frog)
Born 27 March 1909 in Kansas City Missouri.
Sun Aries, Moon Gemini if born before 10pm, Cancer if later.

Note the very tight harmonious trine between Neptune (creativity - the soul of jazz) and Mercury(communication)- an important base aspect. Venus, the musical planet lies in Pisces, ruled by Neptune, not far from Mercury. Although Venus/Neptune are not in trine, because Pisces ruler, Neptune is involved, perhaps Venus could be considered an honorary inclusion.



Mutual reception= two planets placed in each other's ruling signs: here Mars lies in Capricorn, rulership of Saturn, Saturn lies in Aries, rulership of Mars. The two planets, aggressive Mars and serious Saturn combine forces in Webster's personality, and have relevance to his violent streak, and his nickname "Brute", more especially as Mars lies conjunct rebellious and unruly Uranus, in square (conflicting) aspect to Saturn.

Webster leaves a legacy as being known as one of 'Big Three' tenor players of the swing era along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young and is remembered as arguably the greatest of the Jazz saxophonists when it comes to playing a ballad. Ben Webster's sound has influenced future generations of saxophone players....
See HERE

He was a large and occasionally violent man of unusual affections and bizarre impulses. He slept deeply, and had a curious habit of punching anyone who woke him, even his grandmother. In the 1950s, he lived in Los Angeles with his mother and grandmother, the two people in the world closest to him. Jim Hall, the guitarist, once described the routine of picking him up to go to a job. If Webster were asleep, his mother or grandmother would lean over him and say, "Ben, Mr. Hall is here and it's time to go to work." Then they would jump back about two feet to get out of the way. On the other hand, when the name of a dead musician he had loved came up (Tatum, say, or Fats Waller), Webster could be moved to tears. More at archived post: http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2008/03/ben-webster-ballads-and-brute.html

Coleman Hawkins (nickname: The Hawk / The Bean)
Born 21 November 1904 in St.Joseph, Missouri.
Sun in Scorpio, Moon somewhere in Taurus.
Hawkins had Venus, the musical planet at 3* Capricorn, with Uranus, planet of innovation at 28 Sagittarius, forming what is known as an "out of sign conjunction", they are very close, but lie in different zodiac signs. It seems appropriate, then, that he should have been the musician(Venus) who brought a new(Uranus) element into the jazz scene, added to this, Saturn lies in one of its traditional rulersips- Aquarius, the innovative sign.

Although Adolphe Sax actually invented the saxophone, in the jazz world the title "Father of the Tenor Saxophone" became justly associated with Coleman Hawkins (1904 - 1969), not only an inventive jazz giant but also the founder of a whole dynasty of saxophone players. Before Hawkins, the saxophone (itself "born" in 1846) was mainly a favorite in marching bands and something of a novelty instrument in circus acts and vaudeville shows.
See HERE

The liner notes for one of his albums begin:

"Coleman Hawkins? Man, he invented the tenor sax!" It is hard to disagree: Hawkins was the first man to solo on tenor, the first to record in the bop style, and the first to record unaccompanied on the instrument, with "Picasso" in 1948. More at archived post: http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2007/05/arty-farty-friday-5.html

Lester Young (nickname: Pres/Prez)
Born 27 August 1909 in Woodville Mississippi. Sun Virgo, Moon somewhere in Capricorn. He had Mercury conjunct Jupiter in Virgo in trine to Neptune in Cancer, with Uranus in trine to the Mercury/Jupiter conjunction. Here we have Neptune, Mercury and Uranus linked - again.

(He)was a quirky and likable character who held an influential position in the evolution of jazz. With his tenor sax – usually held at an extremely odd angle, up in the air and horizontally splayed out to the side – he literally played the instrument like no one had ever done before and was irritatingly impossible to copy. He also dressed the part of an eccentric and distinguished himself by wearing long overcoats and a pork pie hat …

Part of Lester’s genius was an uncanny ability to achieve a tone that was as weightless as meringue – he almost alluded to the notes in a chord rather than simply playing them. See HERE

Young's sax playing is the horn equivalent to (Billie) Holiday's voice; melancholy, melodic, and understated. Prez could dance solos around Holiday as well as he could support her when she delivered her own musical soliloquy. They seemed to anticipate the others movements just before they happened.More at archived posts: http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2009/07/magical-bonds-billie-holidaylester.html

AND http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2009/05/cool-part-2.html

Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster: It Never Entered My Mind

Lester Young with Teddy Wilson on piano - All of Me

Ben Webster: Ballads and "The Brute"

My husband has tried, slowly, to introduce me to jazz. It's a musical genre which had never appealed to me in the slightest, while he has been smitten with it since schooldays. I've found a few pieces which I enjoy, and many which I simply cannot listen to for more than a few seconds. Saxophonist Ben Webster was one of the first artists recommended to me for easy appreciation, I took to his style easily. He played tenor saxophone, and though he often played the wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am-type jazz, from which he earned his nickname "The Brute", his interpretations of ballads were what set him apart. He said in interview:

"I like to play things that people understand, or maybe tunes that they could recognise. And so—I play for the people, just as much as for myself."

Ben Webster has been called "the supreme interpreter of ballads, (he) mastered the art of absorbing a song making it his own without violating its essence."

Listening to Webster playing "My Funny Valentine" or "Someone To Watch Over Me" with such sensitivity, one wouldn't easily guess that he could be quite violent.

"..... under(Duke) Ellington he found his own voice, moving between blustery showboating and breathy romanticism. He played with a distinctive raspy timbre, often spiking his lines with a sensuous vibrato. Webster was also known for being alternately charming or offending (the latter usually linked with his affection for the bottle). Webster stayed with Ellington for three years. He left after he was allowed to play piano with the band one night but overstayed his welcome. Ellington took offense over the incident but refused to discuss it with Webster, who responded by cutting one of the boss's best suits to bits."

"He was a large and occasionally violent man of unusual affections and bizarre impulses. He slept deeply, and had a curious habit of punching anyone who woke him, even his grandmother. In the 1950s, he lived in Los Angeles with his mother and grandmother, the two people in the world closest to him. Jim Hall, the guitarist, once described the routine of picking him up to go to a job. If Webster were asleep, his mother or grandmother would lean over him and say, "Ben, Mr. Hall is here and it's time to go to work." Then they would jump back about two feet to get out of the way. On the other hand, when the name of a dead musician he had loved came up (Tatum, say, or Fats Waller), Webster could be moved to tears. Hall remembered: "He started telling me what Tatum was like -- he loved to talk about the great ones he knew who were gone -- and the next thing I knew, he was crying."

Those brief extracts depict a talented man of sharp contrasts. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri on 27 March 1909. I can find no mention of his time of birth, so used a chart for 12 noon on his birth date.


The two factors I see as being most significant here (though there a doubtless many others) are 1) a mystic rectangle configuration (I've marked it on the chart), and 2) the mutual reception between Mars and Saturn.

A mystic rectangle configuration is made up of planets connected by trine or sextile also linked by oppositions, producing a box shape with a diagonal cross inside it. The trines and sextiles harmoniously link the planets and signs involved, the oppositions provide friction - also necessary to stop things from becoming too passive and easy-going.

TheAstrologer.com
:"Someone with a Mystic Rectangle in their chart will feel the effects of four planets working together in a strongly balanced and integrated pattern. This configuration offers the bearer a chance at inner harmony -- if the challenge of those two oppositions can be faced and dealt with consciously".

There's little doubt in my mind that this well integrated set of planets supported Ben Webster's musical talent, the very tight trine between Neptune (creativity) and Mercury(communication) being an important base for the integral pattern. Venus, the musical planet lies in Pisces not far from Mercury and although the planet is not technically part of the mystic rectangle, because Pisces ruler, Neptune is so tightly involved in the configuration, perhaps Venus could be considered an honorary inclusion.

Mutual reception (two planets placed in each other's ruling signs): Mars lies in Capricorn, the rulership of Saturn, Saturn lies in Aries, rulership of Mars. The two planets, aggressive Mars and serious Saturn combine forces in Webster's personality, and have relevance to his violent streak, more especially as Mars lies conjunct rebellious unruly Uranus and is in square (conflicting) aspect to Saturn.

(video originally added is no longer available)

Sources
http://www.downbeat.com/artists/window.asp?action=new&aid=40&aname=Ben+Webster
http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/BenWebster.htm
http://www.robertfulford.com/BenWebster.html