Mississippi Jazz Musician Lester (Prez) Young Prez At His Very Best Lester Young: A Biography by Hashim Welch (SHS) Hashim Welch, SHS Researcher Lester Willis Young, nicknamed Prez, was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909. Lester was taught how to play music by his father, Willis Handy Young, who was a very good musician in his own right. Lester was first taught to play the violin, the trumpet, and the drums.(Early years). He later decided to stick to the alto saxophone, despite the fact that the drums were his favorite instrument to play. When he was eleven years of age, Lester and his father moved to Minneapolis where they formed a family band and Lester played alto saxophone with them at age 13.(Bennett). He had a long history of disagreements with his father, and this caused him to leave the band when he was 19 (Early Years). After leaving his family’s band, Lester went on to play with Art Bronson in Phoenix, Arizona. He played with Bronson until 1930, when he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and played with various bands.

He also took a brief trip back home to play with his family. In 1932, while playing at a club with Frank Hines, Young was signed as a member of “The Thirteen Original Blue Devils.” He and the other band members moved to Kansas City to join Bennie Moten near the end of 1933. During the years following 1933, Lester Young played in bands with Bennie Moten, George Lee, King Oliver, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Andy Kirk, and many others. In 1936, when Young rejoined Count Basie, he rose to national fame for the first time. Lester’s rising fame was significant in making Kansas City a major jazz city at this time. Of all the places he played, Lester will probably always be remembered as a Kansas City jazz man. For the next several years he and Basie toured, and recorded.

He recorded on recordings featuring Billie Holiday who gave him the nickname, “The Prez.” (She nicknamed him for president of the tenor saxophone, while he bestowed on her the name ‘Lady Day’.) In the early 1940’s, Young played in small bands in the Los Angeles area alongside his brother, Lee Young, and musicians such as Red Callender, Nat ‘King’ Cole and Al Sears. During this period he returned briefly to the Basie band, making some excellent recordings, and also worked with Dizzy Gillespie. Late in 1944 he was conscripted into the US Army but was discharged in mid-summer the following year, having spent part of his military service in hospital and part in an army prison. In the mid 40’s he was filmed by Gjon Mili in the classic jazz short, Jammin’ The Blues, a venture which was co-produced by Norman Granz. At this time he also joined Granz’s “Jazz At The Philharmonic,” package, remaining with the organization for a number of years. He also led small groups for club and record dates, toured the USA and visited Europe.

Young’s style was the traditional swing style that will always be linked with Basie’s bands. Several famous musicians including Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, and Al Cohn were greatly influenced by Young. A majority of the songs Young played while in the Basie band where 32 bar blues with an AABA structure. When he began recording on his own, he mixed together ballads, blues, and moderate and fast tempo AABA structured tunes. He gradually moved toward his famous soft tone that inspired, most notably, Stan Getz. In the late 1950’s, Lester began to have health problems. While he was on tour, he continued to record and make concert and festival appearances and was featured on television’s The Sound Of Jazz in 1957. In these final years his health was slowly deteriorating; and his band broke up. Lester went on tour with Miles Davis, but was very disheartened to receive bad ratings. Despite this recent downfall, the Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz named Lester Young the greatest tenor saxophone ever in 1956 (Late Years). Young had taken to drinking excessively and wasn’t eating well. It is likely that the disrespect he was beginning to receive led him to drink even more.

Young had other complications including an untreated case of syphilis. He was admitted to a hospital in 1957 and was treated for malnutrition, alcoholism, and cirrhosis of the liver. The doctors told Young he didn’t have much longer to live. He returned home in 1958 and was actually able to tour again briefly. Lester Young passed away on March 15, 1959. According to Ken Burns and his film series for PBS on Jazz, Young’s creed was simple: “You’ve got to be original, man.” Yet he rose in the ranks of the big bands during the age of jazz conformity. Burns adds, “Young’s fierce individualism, no less than his liquid tone, distinguished him from the ensemble as the essence of cool. He swung like mad, but he stayed cool. He went off on his own in the Forties, and over nearly twenty years his inimitable legato phrasing spawned hundreds of imitators. They spoke, in the early Fifties, of the Birth of the Cool.” Ken Burns says that Lester Young was its daddy. Young is buried in the Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.

1909 – Lester Young is born in Woodville, Mississippi 1928 – Left his family’s band and changed his instrument to tenor saxophone 1932 – Lester Young joined “The Thirteen Original Blue Devils.” 1936 – October 9, was Lester’s first recording date with Count Basie Oh, Lady Be Good!

(with Jones – Smith Incorporated, Vocalion, 1936 1937–Honeysuckle Rose (with Count Basie & His Orchestra, Decca, 1937) 1937– Pagin’ the Devil (with the Kansas City Six, Commodore, 1938) 1939–Twelfth Street Rag (with Count Basie & His Orchestra, Vocalion, 1939) 1944 – Lester was conscripted into the US Army 1956–This Year’s Kisses (Norgran, 1956) 1957 –Lester was featured on television’s The Sound Of Jazz, –played Polka Dots and Moonbeams (with Count Basie & His Orchestra, Verve, 1957) Lester Young @ All About Jazz Read more Lester Prez Young was one of the giants of the tenor saxophone. He was the greatest improviser between Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong of the 1920s and Charlie Parker in the 1940s.

From the beginning, he set out to be different: He had his own lingo; In the Forties, he grew his hair out. The other tenor players held their saxophones upright in front of them, so Young held his out to the side, kind of like a flute (see picture above). Then, there was the way he played: Hawkins played around harmonic runs. He played flurries of notes and had a HUGE tone that the other tenor players of the day emulated. Young used a softer tone that resulted In a soft, light sound (if you didn't know better, you would think the two were playing different instruments). Young used less notes and slurred notes together, creating more melodic solos. He played the ordinary in an extraordinary way, using a lot of subtleties to produce music that Billie Holiday said flips you out of your seat with surprise. Young moved to Kansas City in the 1930s, the hotbed of jazz during that time, and played in various groups, including King Oliver, Benny Moten, and the traveling Fletcher Henderson orchestra. One of the great jazz myths says that Hawkins, who was the star player of Henderson's orchestra missed a show.

Young filled in for him and played so wonderfully, that Hawkins went looking for Young, with sax in hand, to teach the young whippersnapper a lesson. They dueled all night and into the next morning. Hawkins left for Europe and Young took over in Henderson's orchestra. However, the ending wasn't happy — Young was hired to play like Hawkins, and that wasn't Young's thing—he could replace Hawkins, but he wasn't going to impersonate him—so he moved back to Kansas City and in 1936, he joined the Count Basie Orchestra and stayed there until 1949. While he recorded some his finest material with Basie, he didn't record all of his finest recordings with Count. He recorded a fine series of records with Billie Holiday. Within 4 years, he had played in top-rated big band AND small group settings! Some sources say that he gave her the nickname Lady Day and she gave him the nickname Prez (others say he became the new Prez-ident when he defeated Hawkins). In 1944, Young was drafted in the Army.

Going from bohemian to rigid institutional life didn't set well with Young and when he was caught smoking marijuana, he was court- martialed and spent months in detention. He came back a fine player, but his light, airy, happy tone had left and his music had a darker side to it. He joined Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic tour, but he let his health decline, and drank far more often and was hospitalized. He had an unsuccessful engagement in Paris in 1959, and returned to the States a sick man and died a year later, at the age of 49. His life (and Bud Powell's) was the basis for Bernard Tavernier's film Round Midnight, and the character based on him was played by Dexter Gordon.

lester young tenor saxophone - jazz greats instrument collection - digital exhibit Gift from Lester "Prez" Young to Marshall Stearns, 1955 BILLIE HOLIDAY (1915 - 1959) Gift from an anonymous friend of the singer Certificate of authenticity MAY 25, 1955 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: This Conn saxophone, number 444,4444, is the saxophone I used with the Count Basie band in 1936 and later. With this horn I recorded "Twelfth St. Rag," "Song of the Islands," "Lester Leaps In," and "One O'Clock Jump"--among other numbers. Lester Young tenor saxophone and certificate of authenticity. Gift of Marshall Stearns, 1955. ENgraved on bell: MADE/BY/C.G. CONN.ELKHART/IND./U.S.A. On back of body: PATD. DEC. 8 1914/1119954/T/M144444/L. Lacquer worn. New neck.

Vulcanized rubber Conn mouthpiece. Lester Young Lester Young | Jess Waid Lester Young Music , Uncategorized jazz , Lester Young jesswaid Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed “Pres” or “Prez”, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and sometime clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie’s orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using “a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike.” Famous for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, and grew up in a musical family. His father, Willis Handy Young, was a respected teacher, his brother Lee Young was a drummer, and several other relatives played music professionally.

His family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, when Lester was an infant and later to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Although at a very young age Young did not initially know his father, he learned that his father was a musician. Later Willis taught his son to play the trumpet, violin, and drums in addition to the saxophone. Young played in his family’s band, known as the Young Family Band, in both the vaudeville and carnival circuits. He left the family band in 1927 at the age of 18 because he refused to tour in the Southern United States, where Jim Crow laws were in effect and racial segregation was required in public facilities. In 1933 Young settled in Kansas City, where after playing briefly in several bands, he rose to prominence with Count Basie. His playing in the Basie band was characterized by a relaxed style which contrasted sharply with the more forceful approach of Coleman Hawkins, the dominant tenor sax player of the day. He left the Basie band to replace Hawkins in Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra. He soon left Henderson to play in the Andy Kirk band (for six months) before returning to Basie.

While with Basie, Young made small-group recordings for Milt Gabler’s Commodore Records, The Kansas City Sessions. Although they were recorded in New York (in 1938, with a reunion in 1944), they are named after the group, the Kansas City Seven, and comprised Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, Basie, Young, Freddie Green, Rodney Richardson, and Jo Jones. Young played clarinet as well as tenor in these sessions. He was a master of the clarinet, and there too his style was entirely his own. As well as the Kansas City Sessions, his clarinet work from 1938–39 is documented on recordings with Basie, Billie Holiday, Basie small groups, and the organist Glenn Hardman. After Young’s clarinet was stolen in 1939, he abandoned the instrument until about 1957. That year Norman Granz gave him one and urged him to play it (with far different results at that stage in Young’s life—see below). Young left the Basie band in late 1940.

He is rumored to have refused to play with the band on Friday, December 13 of that year for superstitious reasons, spurring his dismissal. Lester left the band around that time and subsequently led a number of small groups that often included his brother, noted drummer Lee Young, for the next couple of years; live and broadcast recordings from this period exist. During this period Young accompanied the singer Billie Holiday in a couple of studio sessions in 1940 and 1941 and also made a small set of recordings with Nat “King” Cole (their first of several collaborations) in June 1942. His studio recordings are relatively sparse during the 1942 to 1943 period, largely due to the American Federation of Musicians’ recording ban. It was Holiday who gave Young the nickname “Pres”, short for President. In December 1943 Lester Young returned to the Count Basie fold for a 10-month stint, cut short by his being drafted into the army during World War II. In September 1944 Young and Jo Jones were in Los Angeles with the Basie Band when they were inducted into the U.S. Army.

Unlike many white musicians, who were placed in band outfits such as the ones led by Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw, Young was assigned to the regular army where he was not allowed to play his saxophone. Based in Ft. McClellan, Alabama, Young was found with marijuana and alcohol among his possessions. He was soon court-martialed. Young did not fight the charges and was convicted. He served one year in a detention barracks and was dishonorably discharged in late 1945. His experience inspired his composition “D.B. Blues” (with D.B. standing for detention barracks). Some jazz historians have argued that Young’s playing power declined in the years following his army experience, though critics such as Scott Yanow disagree with this entirely. Recordings show that his playing began to change before he was drafted. Some argue that Young’s playing had an increasingly emotional slant to it, and the post-war period featured some of his greatest renditions of ballads. Recordings made during this and subsequent periods suggest Young was beginning to make much greater use of a plastic reed, which tended to give his playing a somewhat heavier, breathier tone (although still quite smooth compared to that of many other players).

While he never abandoned the wooden reed, he used the plastic reed a significant share of the time from 1943 until the end of his life. Another cause for the thickening of his tone around this time was a change in saxophone mouthpiece from a metal Otto Link to an ebonite Brilhart. In August 1944 Young appeared alongside drummer Jo Jones, trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison, and fellow tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet in Gjon Mili’s short film Jammin’ the Blues. In September 1944 Young and Jo Jones were in Los Angeles with the Basie Band when they were inducted into the U.S. Army. Unlike many white musicians, who were placed in band outfits such as the ones led by Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw, Young was assigned to the regular army where he was not allowed to play his saxophone. Based in Ft. McClellan, Alabama, Young was found with marijuana and alcohol among his possessions. He was soon court-martialed. Young did not fight the charges and was convicted. He served one year in a detention barracks and was dishonorably discharged in late 1945.

His experience inspired his composition “D.B. Blues” (with D.B. standing for detention barracks). Some jazz historians have argued that Young’s playing power declined in the years following his army experience, though critics such as Scott Yanow disagree with this entirely. Recordings show that his playing began to change before he was drafted. Some argue that Young’s playing had an increasingly emotional slant to it, and the post-war period featured some of his greatest renditions of ballads. Young’s career after World War II was far more prolific and lucrative than in the pre-war years in terms of recordings made, live performances, and annual income. Young joined Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) troupe in 1946, touring regularly with them over the next 12 years. He made a significant number of studio recordings under Granz’s supervision for his Verve Records label as well, including more trio recordings with Nat King Cole.

Young also recorded extensively in the late 1940s for Aladdin Records (1946-7, where he had made the Cole recordings in 1942) and for Savoy (1944, ’49 and ’50), some sessions of which included Basie on piano. While the quality and consistency of his playing ebbed gradually in the latter half of the 1940s and into the early 1950s, he also gave some brilliant performances during this stretch. Especially noteworthy are his performances with JATP in 1946, 1949, and 1950.[citation needed] With Young at the 1949 JATP concert at Carnegie Hall were Charlie Parker and Roy Eldridge, and Young’s solo on “Lester Leaps In” at that concert is a particular standout among his performances in the latter half of his career. While the quality and consistency of his playing ebbed gradually in the latter half of the 1940s and into the early 1950s, he also gave some brilliant performances during this stretch.

Especially noteworthy are his performances with JATP in 1946, 1949, and 1950. With Young at the 1949 JATP concert at Carnegie Hall were Charlie Parker and Roy Eldridge, and Young’s solo on “Lester Leaps In” at that concert is a particular standout among his performances in the latter half of his career. From around 1951, Young’s level of playing declined more precipitously, as he began to drink more and more heavily. His playing showed reliance on a small number of clichéd phrases and reduced creativity and originality, despite his claims that he did not want to be a “repeater pencil” (Young coined this phrase to describe the act of repeating one’s own past ideas). A comparison of his studio recordings from 1952, such as the session with pianist Oscar Peterson, and those from 1953–1954 (all available on the Verve label) also demonstrates a declining command of his instrument and sense of timing, possibly due to both mental and physical factors.

Young’s playing and health went into a crisis, culminating in a November 1955 hospital admission following a nervous breakdown. He emerged from this treatment improved. In January 1956 he recorded two Granz-produced sessions featuring pianist Teddy Wilson (who had led the Billie Holiday recordings with Young in the 1930s), trumpet player Roy Eldridge, trombonist Vic Dickenson, bassist Gene Ramey, and drummer Jo Jones – available on the Jazz Giants ’56 and Prez and Teddy albums. 1956 was a relatively good year for Lester Young, including a tour of Europe with Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Quartet and a successful stint at Olivia’s Patio Lounge in Washington, DC. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, Lester Young had sat in on Count Basie Orchestra gigs from time to time. The best-known of these is their July 1957 appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, the line-up including many of Lester’s old buddies: Jo Jones, Roy Eldridge, Illinois Jacquet and Jimmy Rushing.

His playing was in better shape, and he produced some of the old, smooth-toned flow of the 1930s. Among other tunes he played a moving “Polkadots and Moonbeams,” which was a favorite of his at that time. In September 1944 Young and Jo Jones were in Los Angeles with the Basie Band when they were inducted into the U.S. Army. Unlike many white musicians, who were placed in band outfits such as the ones led by Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw, Young was assigned to the regular army where he was not allowed to play his saxophone. Based in Ft. McClellan, Alabama, Young was found with marijuana and alcohol among his possessions. He was soon courtmartialed. Young did not fight the charges and was convicted. He served one year in a detention barracks and was dishonorably discharged in late 1945. His experience inspired his composition “D.B. Blues” (with D.B. standing for detention barracks). Some jazz historians have argued that Young’s playing power declined in the years following his army experience, though critics such as Scott Yanow disagree with this entirely.

Recordings show that his playing began to change before he was drafted. Some argue that Young’s playing had an increasingly emotional slant to it, and the post-war period featured some of his greatest renditions of ballads. Like Change My Plan; I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (1956 version); Gigantic Blues;This Year’s Kisses;You Can Depend on Me; and, I Guess I’ll Have. On December 8, 1957, Young appeared with Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan in the CBS television special The Sound of Jazz, performing Holiday’s tunes “Lady Sings The Blues” and “Fine and Mellow.” It was a reunion with Holiday, with whom he had lost contact for years. She was also in decline at the end of her career, and they both gave moving performances. Young’s solo was brilliant, considered by many jazz musicians an unparalleled marvel of economy, phrasing and extraordinarily moving emotion. But Young seemed gravely ill, and was the only horn player who was seated (except during his solo) during the performance. By this time his alcoholism had cumulative effect.

He was eating significantly less, drinking more and more, and suffering from liver disease and malnutrition. Young’s sharply diminished physical strength in the final two years of his life yielded some recordings with a frail tone, shortened phrases, and, on rare occasions, a difficulty in getting any sound to come out of his horn at all. Lester Young made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March 1959 with drummer Kenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate next to nothing and virtually drank himself to death. He died in the early morning hours of March 15, 1959, only hours after arriving back in New York, at the age of 49. He was buried at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. According to jazz critic Leonard Feather, who rode with Holiday in a taxi to Young’s funeral, she said after the services, “I’ll be the next one to go.” Billie Holiday died four months later at age 44. Charles Mingus dedicated an elegy, “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” for Young only a few months after his death.

Wayne Shorter, then of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, composed a tribute, called “Lester Left Town.” Young’s playing style influenced many other tenor saxophonists. Perhaps the most famous and successful of these were Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon, but he also influenced many in the cool movement such as Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, and Gerry Mulligan. Paul Quinichette modeled his style so closely on Young’s that he was sometimes referred to as the “Vice Prez” (sic). Sonny Stitt began to incorporate elements from Lester Young’s approach when he made the transition to tenor saxophone. Lester Young also had a direct influence on young Charlie Parker (“Bird”), and thus the entire be-bop movement. Indeed, recordings of Parker on tenor sax are similar in style to that of Young. Lesser-known saxophonists, such as Warne Marsh, were strongly influenced by Young. Don Byron recorded the album Ivey-Divey in gratitude for what he learned from studying Lester Young’s work, modeled after a 1946 trio date with Buddy Rich and Nat King Cole. “Ivey-Divey” was one of Lester Young’s common eccentric phrases.

Young is a major character in English writer Geoff Dyer’s 1991 fictional book about jazz, But Beautiful. The Resurrection of Lady Lester by OyamO (Charles F. Gordon) is a play and published book depicting Young’s life, subtitled “A Poetic Mood Song Based on the Legend of Lester Young.” In the 1986 film Round Midnight, the fictional main character Dale Turner, played by Dexter Gordon, was partly based on Young – incorporating flashback references to his army experiences, and loosely depicting his time in Paris and his return to New York just before his death. Acid Jazz/boogaloo band the Greyboy Allstars song “Tenor Man” is a tribute to Young.

On their 1999 album “Live,” saxophonist Karl Denson introduces the song by saying, “…now some folks may have told you that Lester Young is out of style, but we’re here to tell you that the Prez is happenin’ right now.” Those were literally the lyrics Rahsaan Roland Kirk wrote and sang to the melody of the Charles Mingus elegy, “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” Peter Straub’s short story collection Magic Terror (2000) contains a story called “Pork Pie Hat,” a fictionalized account of the life of Lester Young. Straub was inspired by Young’s appearance on the 1957 CBS-TV show The Sound of Jazz, which he watched repeatedly, wondering how such a genius could have ended up such a human wreck. Lester Young is said to have popularized use of the term “cool” to mean something fashionable. Another slang term he coined was the term “bread” for money. He would ask, “How does the bread smell?” when asking how much a gig was going to pay.

Share this: Lester Young Lester Young: "Prez" became a jazz icon, his sax jutting oddly to one side as he reshaped the art of tenor saxophone in the late 1930s and 1940s.

JAZZ RHYTHM Tribute to Lester Young: Shoe Shine Boy -- Smith-Jones Inc., 1936 Lady Be Good -- Jones-Smith Inc., 1936 Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie -- Count Basie Orch,1939 Ham 'n Eggs -- Count Basie Orchestra,1939 I Got Rhythm -- Kansas Six, 1944 Three Little Words -- Kansas City Six, 1944 The Man I Love -- Billie Holiday and her Orch, 1939 All of Me -- Billie Holiday and her Orch, 1941 Way Down Yonder in New Orleans -- Kansas City Six, 1938 You Can Depend On Me -- Count Basie Orch., vocal Jimmy Rushing, 1939 Lester Leaps In -- Count Basie’s Kansas City Seven, 1939 Lester Leaps Again -- Kansas City Five, 1944 Blue Lester -- Lester Young Quintet, 1944 All of Me -- Lester Young, 1956 After Theater Jump -- Kansas City Seven, 1944 The Cult of Lester Many consider Lester Young the greatest tenor saxophone player of all time.

He was undoubtedly a masterful innovator from the mid 1930’s to the mid 1940s changing the way saxophone was played and changing the art of Jazz itself. As a saxist -- and as major contributor to the Count Basie band -- Lester Young brought a strong personal voice; a cool modernism; and a new rhythmic flexibility to jazz in the freely dancing rhythms of 4-beat swing. His very first recordings: “Shoe Shine Boy” and “Lady Be Good” announced to the world in 1936 that a revolutionary musical force had arrived in jazz. The first recordings of Lester Young contain all the important traits of his style: 1st -- His unique saxophone sound was light in tone and very UN-saxophone-like. At times his tenor sounds more like a brass horn than a reed instrument. I describe his sax tone as “hollowed out.” In contrast to the predominant sax style of his day Lester plays largely without the pronounced vibrato or rich, resonant overtones heard in other saxoophone players of his day like Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges or Ben Webster.

2nd -- Lester Young’s phrasing is smooth, singing and very economical: using a minimum of notes and is constantly surprising. The notes that he chooses NOT to play are as important as the notes he DOES play. 3rd -- His rhythm: Lester, and the Basie Band, brought the all-out Swing of 4-beat rhythm to jazz. 4th -- His conception of melody improvisation was totally fresh. Rejecting jazz orthodoxy he focused his energy on the melody line, again turning away from Coleman Hawkins prevalent approach to sax based on explorations of harmony, and on technical bravura. By contrast, “Prez” placed his emphasis on an intricate but very spare treatment of melody: abbreviating, editing, smoothing out and streamlining melodic lines with a cool modernism, way ahead of its time. New 6.2015 ARCHIVE PHOTOS These excellent photos of Lester are newly available to JAZZ RHYTHM. Click on the image for full size. Shot by Paul Nodler at an improvisation session in New York City, 1950. This was a session run by Norman Granz at studio on 23rd St.

Personnel (these photos): Thanks Norman Recording with Basie and the Kansas City Five, Six and Seven Lester made his greatest impact on jazz and swing as a crucial component in the Count Basie Orchestra between 1936-41. The smooth, modern rhythm of the Basie band pointed the way for Swing music, introducing a radical 4-beats to the bar rhythm that made for a looser sound and greater freedom for soloing. Like Lester, the Basie rhythm section simplified what had gone before: Basie himself played a very minimal abstract piano line of very few notes; drummer Jo Jones pedaled his bass drum very lightly, and shifted from snare drum to cymbals to carry the beat. With the Basie orchestra, as with Lester, LESS was often MORE as heard in his 1939 recordings with the Basie band like “Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie” and “Ham 'n Eggs." The small-band recordings of the Kansas City Six were somewhat akin to the Ellington small bands: the best qualities and finest players of the outfit placed in an intimate and purely jazz setting.

It was the genius of Commodore Records founder Milt Gabler to realize that small band sessions around Prez and the Basie rhythm section would distill the essence of the Basie band swing into an even more potent blend. Those recordings bring us up-close and personal with Lester’s trade craft: the unusual rhythm patterns, the unexpected harmonic leaps and melodic abbreviations. And one of his most daring tricks was his discovery of so-called “false fingerings”: discovering that some notes could be produced using more than one set of finger positions, resulting in different densities of sound. He would repeat a single pitch making it sound like several different notes These Kansas City Six records also have great performances by trumpeter Bill Coleman, trombonist Dicky Wells, and drummer Jo Jones in “Three Little Words”; and “Jo-Jo.” “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans”, where Lester plays both tenor sax and a bit of clarinet (as he did from time to time) reminds us that Young was in fact born and raised very near New Orleans -- though by his early teens he was touring the mid-west and southwest with various groups, including a family band led by his father.

“I Got Rhythm” is a perfect demonstration of Lester drawing from this bag of tricks to make great music from very little, pulling brilliant sounds out of the air with ease. Billie and Prez The special contribution to jazz of tenor saxophone jazz giant, Lester Willis Young, is signified in the name Billie Holiday gave him: “Prez” to suggest his ‘prezidental’ supremacy (as she saw it) among tenor saxists. The musical love affair between Lester Young and Billie Holiday is legendary, yet it was only musical (though Billie did have a romance with trumpeter Buck Clayton of the Basie band). But the extraordinary musical rapport between Prez and Lady Day has been much written about -- their music making together on Billie’s records like “The Man I Love” (1939) and “All of Me” (1941) have been described as: “thinking each others thoughts,” and “a single voice split in two.” Jazz Icon Lots of people seem to have a strong affection for Lester Young: he clearly has a cult following and has reached the remarkable mythic status of Jazz icon.

Oddly, though Prez was one of the most influential musicians in jazz, his influences are very hard to trace -- and in fact seemed to fade out quickly as bop and the music of Charlie Parker emerged. Still he’s often cited as an inspiration by boppers and even Parker himself, who said that he dug Prez, but that there were large differences between what they did. For another example, I know a very good swing tenor player who says Lester is his main influence, yet he sounds nothing like Lester: his tone and vibrato are much more reminiscent of Coleman Hawkins. Lester has been often imitated, never equaled. One jazz writer -- Benny Green in his book, The Reluctant Art (Da Capo Press 1962/1991) -- makes a convincing argument that Young’s innovations and influences were confined to the late ‘30s and early ‘40s fading rapidly, along with his powers.

Yet green does agree that Lester was special, his impact vast and electrifying, his ideas brilliant and revolutionary; even going so far as to suggest that Lester “permeated the entire jazz cosmology.” Prezology Another part of the fascination with Lester Young lies in his odd personal habits, contradictions, and bizarre language. Of course, there’s the way he stuck out his sax at a strange 45-degree angle unlike any other saxist before or since. Oddly, though he was extremely wary of white racism his two big influences were white saxophonists Frankie Trumbauer and Jimmy Dorsey!

Lester’s speech was always obtuse: * he called everybody “Lady” this and “Lady” that; its how Billie Holiday came to be called “Lady Day.” * taking his sax to a repair shop he complained of trouble with the keys by saying “my people won’t play” * if something was a drag to Lester, it was “von Hangman” * he referred to a female as a “hat”, “homburg” or “mexican hat”, an attractive young female was “poundcake.” * if he sensed bigotry he’d say “I feel a draft.” * “can madame burn?” was asking if your wife could cook and so on. Prez was by most accounts rather shy and sensitive: a loner, quiet and polite. If offended he would take out a small whisk broom he carried in a coat pocket and dust off his left shoulder. In the 1950s Young toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic, recorded for Verve, and gradually sank into depression and alcoholism. But from time to time he still sounded great! Lester Young will remain a towering figure for as long as people listen to saxophone.

Yet to me he stands as a lonely and possibly even tragic Giant of Jazz. He was a solitary spirit who shone brightly, all too briefly, creating a whole new world of music in a few fleeting wisps of sound. He was one of those special few musicians who find that most elusive of prizes: ORIGINALITY. Lester Young had a distinctly fresh, unique voice. Speaking his truth -- he expanded the language of music and left an indelible personal signature on jazz. Lester Young music - Listen Free on Jango || Pictures, Videos, Albums, Bio, Fans Biography Read More Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument, playing with a cool tone and using sophisticated harmonies. He invented or popularized much of the hipster ethos which came to be associated with the music....

Biography from Wikipedia Lester Young — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm lester young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and sometime clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers… read more Lester Young - Music on Google Play Lester Young About the artist Lester Willis Young, nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument.

In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. 1 $9.49 The Lester Young Trio and The Lester Young Trio No. 2 are jazz trio albums recorded in Hollywood, California in March–April 1946 by Lester Young with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich. 1 Coleman Hawkins 0 Coleman Randolph Hawkins, nicknamed Hawk and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: ... 0 Ben Webster 0 Benjamin Francis "Ben" Webster was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, is considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkin... 0 Dexter Gordon 0 Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

He was among the earliest tenor players to adapt the bebop musical language of people such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell t... 0 Sonny Rollins 0 Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins is an American jazz tenor saxophonist, widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded at le... 0 Duke Ellington 0 Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a career spanning over fifty years. Born in Washingt... Clifford Brown 0 Clifford Brown, a.k.a. "Brownie", was an American jazz trumpeter. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings. Nonetheless, he had a considerable... 0 Art Pepper 0 Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and clarinetist. A longtime figure in West coast jazz, Pepper came to prominence in Stan Kenton's big band. He was known for his emotional...

0 Cannonball Adderley 0 Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley was a jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is remembered for his 1966 single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", a crossover hit on the p... 0 Oscar Peterson 0 Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, OOnt was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, but simply "O.P." by his friends. He released over 20... 0 Red Garland 0 William "Red" Garland was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of piano playing. 0 The Modern Jazz Quartet 0 The Modern Jazz Quartet was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. The band performed over a 40-year span with only one personnel ch...

0 Lester Young: 'The Prez' Still Rules At 100 : NPR Heard on Morning Edition Tom Vitale In the 1930s, Lester Young — known as the "President of Jazz" or simply "The Prez" — led a revolution on the tenor saxophone that influenced generations to follow. He was Billie Holiday 's favorite accompanist, and his robust tenor playing influenced everybody from Charlie Parker to Sonny Rollins . Young was famous for his porkpie hat and his hipster language, but he'll always be remembered for his remarkable solos. Lester Young was born 100 years ago Thursday. Rather than holding his saxophone vertically, Lester Young held it high and to the right at a 45-degree angle. Herman Leonard/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Herman Leonard/Getty Images Rather than holding his saxophone vertically, Lester Young held it high and to the right at a 45-degree angle. Herman Leonard/Getty Images In the winter of 1959, French photographer Francois Postif interviewed Young in his Paris hotel room less than two months before the saxophonist died. The recording has been passed around from jazz fan to jazz fan.

In it, Young said that even though he became famous with the Count Basie Orchestra, he didn't like big bands. "I don't like a whole lot of noise — trumpets and trombones," Young says in the recording. "I'm looking for something soft. It's got to be sweetness, man, you dig?" Young's Signature Style Sweetness is what Young was all about. When he started to gain attention, the dominant style of the day was the aggressive, hard-driving saxophone of Coleman Hawkins . But Young played in the upper range of his tenor in a lyrical, relaxed style. "He had marvelous sensitivity and taste," says Dan Morgenstern, who wrote the book Living in Jazz. "Never played a tasteless note in his life." Morgenstern, who met Young in 1958, says the saxophonist always told a story in his solos, in an original way. "He had this 'floating' style, where he would kind of float above the rhythm. He was like an acrobat," Morgenstern says. "And, you know, at the same time, his melodic imagination was so marvelous.

The combination of rhythm and melody — nobody else quite ever had that." Article continues after sponsorship Young was an original in other ways. Rather than holding his saxophone vertically, he held it high and to the right at a 45-degree angle. He famously wore a porkpie hat and moccasins. Young also had a flair for language: He said he had "big eyes" for the things he liked, he nicknamed Billie Holiday "Lady Day," and he called women's feet in open-toed shoes "nice biscuits." He also made up new words that found their way into songs. Young's cachet among hipsters led to his popularizing now-common words. Everyone started using the word "cool" after they heard him say it, according to jazz historian Phil Schaap. "But the one that really makes the most sense," Schaap says, "you call up Lester Young for a gig, he'd say, 'Okay, how does the bread smell?' So he used 'bread' for money for the first time." Serving In The Army Lester Willis Young was born in Woodville, Miss., on Aug. 27, 1909. His father Willis played several instruments and taught all of his children to play.

When he was 18, Lester left the family vaudeville band and moved west, ending up in Kansas City with Count Basie. By the time World War II started, Young was a jazz star. So he expected his military service to be spent entertaining the troops, like the white musicians in the bands of Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw . But the government drafted Young into the "regular Army." "He was just another soldier, and he was going to do what they told him to do, and he refused," drummer Jerry Potter said. Potter was stationed at Fort McClellan, Ala., in the fall of 1944 when Young arrived for basic training. Thirty-five years later, Potter recalled that Young didn't want to cut his hair, didn't want to sleep in a barracks and refused to wear Army boots. "He didn't need basic training, because he was never going to fire a gun," Potter says. "You see, that's another thing. He never wanted to fire a rifle. 'I don't want to kill anyone. I want to play and make them happy.' " Young was court-martialed for using marijuana. His Army experience was traumatic, and it inspired his composition "D.B.

Blues," for "detention barracks." Late Career Struggles Young drank heavily for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, he continued to tour and record a lot. Some critics say his playing was never as strong after the war, but others argue that his ballads possessed more emotional power. Throughout his life, Young struggled with racism, from the Jim Crow laws his family faced in the 1920s to the way he felt the Army treated him. "They want everyone who's a negro to be an Uncle Tom, Uncle Remus and Uncle Sam, and I can't make it," Young said. "But it's the same way all over. You just fight for your life, you dig? Until death do we part. You got it made." Young is said to have drunk himself to death on his final tour of Paris in the winter of 1959. He died when he was just 49, yet his spare, lyrical sound inspired everyone from the more frenetic be-boppers to the cool jazz players. But his greatest legacy lives in the stories preserved in his solos.

Question: Which instrument is associated with Lester 'Prez' Young?
Answer: Saxophone