. . . or else listen to Ben Webster say it in his own words (Daily Toot)

Don't be satisfied what I say about Ben Webster's phrasing. Listen to what he says about it himself.

Webster is rehearsing a Danish big band playing a transcribed arrangement of one of his solos. He wants it a certain way and they're not getting it, or not right off.

"You've got to cut it off," he says about one single note. He's saying that the how you say it is as important as the what. In this particular case, he's saying that playing one note, one very important one, shorter rather than longer is a way of emphasizing it, showing it's what you want the listener to remember.

In another clip from this rehearsal, he makes his point in a surprising metaphor, "When the bee stings you, he dies. But the stinger stays in you." Accents don't just stand out within the musical surface, they echo in our attention span, framing everything and communicating how the player feels about the notes.

Listen to the whole rehearsal, through all the different takes. (YouTube will suggest the other takes from this session to you.) It's not only revelatory: it's entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gflSLpQtoQ