Ben Webster's "Cottontail" solo

[Larry Kart]

I recall reading somewhere (wish I could be specific)  the claim that Ben Webster's recorded solo on "Cottontail" was not improvised by Webster but written out for him by Ellington, Until I read that, it had never occurred to me that this might be the case. Yesterday, I bought this album (below), which is full of delights and includes a June 12, 1940 "America Dances" aircheck of "Cottontail" on which, aside from a few familiar figures toward  the end, Webster's solo is not all the same as his solo on the band's recording. Any thoughts?

 

 

[JSngry]

What I recall hearing/reading is that the sax soli was written by Webster.

To double up on the double cup, there's been an arrangement or two  that have taken webster's solo and written it out as a sax soli. Bob Rosengarden's band on the old Dick Cavett show had one such chart. I remember a lot of times when they'd have that little break between commercials where they would show band playin mid-chart, that's what they be playing a lot of times.. I hear that for a few years before hearing the Ellington cut, and then when I hear d Ben's solo, I was like, DAMN, OK!

[Ted O'Reilly]

I, too heard that Ben wrote the soli.  And also, that Duke told the band the famous master wasn't to be a take, just a run through that was recorded.  He liked it, and VOILA!  Probably apocryphal, but a good story for that...

[Larry Kart]

Based on information from elsewhere, here's the story. The solo is Ben's, improvised and created under circumstances that Ted has explained above, though Duke later probably asked Ben to codify the solo to some degree, and why not?  Ben also wrote the piece's sax-section passage. 

What Duke did write is Ben's solo on "The Blues" section of "Black, Brown, and Beige." It was that piece of retained information that confused me.