Big Ben: Ben Webster in Europe

Tenor saxophonist Ben Webster was already a living jazz legend in 1967, when, at the age of 58, he moved to Amsterdam for a year. Known variously as Big Ben, The Frog and The Brute, he had played in all the top bands, including the Duke Ellington Orchestra. In Amsterdam he rents a room from an elderly lady named Mrs. Hartlooper, who pampers him (“She treats me like her own son”) and even appears together with him on a popular TV talk show. In this short and playful film by Johan van der Keuken, we see Webster on the road with his instrument case, chatting with his landlady, musing on his past and rehearsing with other musicians, including jazz pianist Cees Slinger. Webster himself takes the 8mm camera and films the street and the director – he even influences the content of the film when he suggests that Van der Keuken shoot footage in a saxophone factory. The camerawork and editing suit the period and the subject. The film isboth fragmented and unpredictable, harmonious and abstract; its collage style and its unconventional and improvisational qualities all echo the art of jazz.