The Warm Moods Explained

The Warm Moods
Type:	Studio
Artist:	Ben Webster
Cover:	The Warm Moods.jpg
Released:	February 1961
Recorded:	1961
Genre:	Jazz
Length:	35:20
Label:	Reprise F/FS 2001
Chronology:	Ben Webster
Prev Title:	Ben Webster at the Renaissance
Prev Year:	1960
Next Title:	BBB & Co.
Next Year:	1962

The Warm Moods is an album by American jazz saxophonist Ben Webster featuring tracks recorded in 1960 for the Reprise label.^[1] The album was the label's first non-Frank Sinatra release.

Reception

In the Los Angeles Times, Leonard Feather wrote The Warm Moods demonstrated why Webster was "among the immortals", commenting that his tenor saxophone playing "makes every song seem beautiful, whether the task is easy (as in 'Nancy,' 'There's No You,' 'But Beautiful,' 'It Was So Beautiful') or near impossible (as in 'The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi' and 'The Whiffenpoof Song')." Scott Yanow wrote in his review for AllMusic: "even when simply stating the melody, Webster brings out unexpected beauty in the songs. His tone has never been accurately duplicated".^[2]

Track listing

1. "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" (Bryan Stokes, Dudley Vernor) - 2:23
2. "Stella by Starlight" (Ned Washington, Victor Young) - 2:59
3. "With Every Breath I Take" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) - 3:02
4. "Accent on Youth" (Vee Lawnhurst, Tot Seymour) - 2:57
5. "But Beautiful" (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) - 2:50
6. "Time After Time" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) - 3:08
7. "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" (Van Heusen, Phil Silvers) - 3:09
8. "I'm Beginning to See the Light" (Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges, Harry James) - 2:44
9. "It Was So Beautiful" (Harry Barris, Arthur Freed) - 3:21
10. "The Whiffenpoof Song" (Tod Galloway, Meade Minnigerode, George S. Pomeroy) - 2:23
11. "It's Easy to Remember" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) - 3:08
12. "There's No You" (Tom Adair, Hal Hopper) - 3:16

Personnel

• Ben Webster - tenor saxophone
• Donn Trenner - piano
• Alfred Lustgarten, Lisa Minghetti - violin
• Cecil Figelski - viola
• Armond Kaproff - cello
• Don Bagley - bass
• Frank Capp - drums

Notes and References

1. http://www.bsnpubs.com/warner/reprise/reprise2000.html Reprise Records discography
2. Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed August 25, 2012