Ben Webster is my favorite tenor. I absolutely love his sound. When I got out of the Navy, I decided to learn to play the sax, and I began listening to all of them.
I love a specific album by John Coltrane: "Ballads". Just beautiful. My favorite album. But a lot of his other stuff didn't appeal to me.
Love Coleman Hawkins.
But I love Ben Webster's sound overall. There is something about it that appeals to me. His nickname was "The Brute".
This is my favorite picture of him:
I heard a story that he said he met Joe Louis (pretty sure it was him) in a bar one time, and told him to punch him as hard as he could, because he could take any punch. Heh, Joe Louis broke his ribs...:)
I can hear two notes and pick out Ben Webster!