Big Ben

Black & white, 16mm
The Netherlands, 1967, 31 min
Section: Johan van der Keuken

About the film

A medium-length documentary portrait of American saxophonist Ben Webster, a brilliant talent for whom Amsterdam became a second home at the end of the 1960s. Webster, a living legend of jazz and blues, was born in Kansas City in 1909; during the 1930s he played alongside truly great musicians, and also featured in Duke Ellington’s band. Through Keuken’s eyes he is seen as a contradictory figure, emanating both violence and refinement, broad-mindedness and suffering. Director Johan van der Keuken has succeeded in transferring to the film reel a bond uniting a musical genius and his music, looking deep inside the persona of an artist who died six years later.