Hail to the Chief— #LesterYoung

Hail to the Chief—Lester Young—on President's Day. Here he is with Count Basie in 1957 playing "One O'Clock Jump"... https://t.co/yd96msNVVB pic.twitter.com/U6vpKRA5ZJ

— Marc Myers (@JazzWax) 20 de fevereiro de 2017

#LesterYoung & #ColemanHawkins

Lester Young & Coleman Hawkins 1958 https://t.co/O94f8Ugd4f h\t @JazzWax

— Sid Celery (@sidcelery) October 29, 2016

Alto saxophonist #LesterYoung ....

A rare performance of "Mean To Me" by the Prez from Sept. 1958. Alto saxophonist Lester Young was born on this... https://t.co/ka37JRr2l3

— JazzTimes Magazine (@JazzTimes) August 27, 2016

Lester Young: September 1958

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.comToday is Presidents Day in the U.S., a holiday, so naturally around these parts we celebrate the life and art of Lester "Prez" Young. Here's Prez on Art Ford's televised Jazz Party series in 1958...

Used with permission by Marc Myers

A rare Lester Young performance of "Mean To Me" on "Art Ford's Jazz Party", September 25, 1958. Broadcast by Danmarks Radio.
Sound portion originally released as Enigma 301

Lester Young: Boston 1950

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

In 1950, if you headed away from Boston's Symphony Hall on Massachusetts Ave. toward the South End, you'd encounter an archipelago of jazz clubs. Establishments included the Savoy Ballroom, the Chicken Lane, the Wig-Wam and many others that welcomed black and white audiences eager for music and a bite to eat.

One of the best known Boston clubs before George Wein opened Storyville in 1954 was the Hi-Hat. Located where Columbus Ave. meets Massachusetts Ave., the Hi-Hat served barbecue and often hosted radio broadcasts featuring the performances of famed jazz artists. [Pictured above: A post card of Boston's Hi-Hat Club, which opened in 1937 and burned down in 1959]

Several of these remotes were recorded between May 26 and June 11, 1950 at the Hi-Hat with tenor saxophonist Lester Young and his band—Jesse Drakes (tp), Kenny Drew (p), Joe Shulman (b) and Connie Kay (d). These recordings are now available for the first time on Lester Young: Boston 1950 (Uptown) and the label's owner, Bob Sunenblick estimates they were made on June 4 and June 11, 1950, with two from February 1, 1953. 

What's remarkable about this CD is the crisp, warm quality of the sound, the firm fluidity of Young's playing and Drew's melodic piano playing. Young was in superb form in mid-1950, having spent much of the first quarter of the year on the road playing nightly. He had a run at the Savoy Ballroom in New York in February followed in March by a stay at the city's Royal Roost. Then he was in Chicago in April before winding up in Boston.

The track selection on this CD is superb and includes sterling versions of How High the Moon, Talk of the Town, Slow Boat to China and Body and Soul—a ballad he was rarely recorded playing. The song all but belonged to rival saxophonist Coleman Hawkins—whose 1939 recording for RCA was legendary. For this reason alone it's fascinating to hear Young's approach, which is far less aggressive and much more sorrowful.

In 1950, jazz was experiencing a brief lull. Bebop's popularity was fading, cool jazz was gaining favor and hard bop was still two years away. Record sales were down as Columbia's and RCA's new formats—the 33 1/3 LP and the 45-rpm, respectively—battled for supremacy. The result was a confused marketplace as consumers decided to stick with what they owned rather than invest in new phonographs. As jazz and technology caught their breath, Young demonstrated once again that expressing your feelings through your instrument while improvising was high art and eternal.

Yesterday, of course, was Lester Young's birthday. Happy birthday Prez!

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Lester Young: Boston 1950 (Uptown) here. Fine liner notes by Bob Porter.

JazzWax clip: Here's Lester Young playing Body and Soul... 

Body and Soul

- See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/08/lester-young-boston-1950.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29#sthash.fQYelSlm.dpuf

Used with permission by Marc Myers

Dream Team - 2.....

About this video:
Lester Young tenor;
Illinois Jacque, tenor;
Harry Edison, trumpet;
Barney Kessel; guitar;
Marlowe Morris, piano;
Red Callender, bass;
Jo Jones and Sidney Catlett, drums.
The movie was directed by Gjon Mili. Producer Gordon Hollingshead was nominated for an Academy Award for this footage in the category of Best Short Subject, One-reel.
Recorded in 1944.

Jazz from J to Z’: JAZZAX Celebrates the Music of Lester Young, Sept. 27

The Twin Cities Jazz Society kicks off its 2009-2010 “Jazz from J to Z” season Sept. 27 at the Capri Theater in north Minneapolis (3 p.m.) with a tribute to saxophone legend Lester Young. Co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Jazz Studies Department, the concert will feature the JAZZAX Saxophone Quartet (Dave Milne, Mike Walk, Pete Whitman, and Greg Keel), the Laura Caviani Trio (with Gordy Johnson and Phil Hey), saxophonist Dave Karr and vocalist Charmin Michelle. This year marks the centennial of the birth of Lester Young in Woodville, Missouri. Known as an early “hipster” due to his distinctive dress (including the famous porkpie hat) and idiosyncratic language, Young’s cool tone and emotional style offered a not-always-appreciated alternative to the popular powerhouse tenor of Coleman Hawkins. Considered a major influence on Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Gerry Mulligan, and Sonny Stitt, Young also had a direct impact on Charlie Parker and the bop movement of the ‘40s and ‘50s. He was Count Basie’s lead tenor throughout much of the 1930s and ‘40s, and was part of the famed Jazz at the Philharmonic in the late ‘40s and ‘50s. The 1986 film Round Midnight is based in part on the life of Lester Young. A frequent musical partner of Billie Holiday, Young is credited with dubbing her Lady Day, and in turn she nicknamed him Prez, short for President.

The “Tribute to Lester Young” will include special arrangements of Young’s classic performances with the Count Basie Orchestra of the ‘30s and ‘40s, featuring the JAZZAX Saxophone Quartet and local legend Dave Karr on such tunes as “Lester Leaps In,” “Tickle Toe,” and “Jumpin’ at the Woodside.” They will also perform new compositions and arrangements based on the music of Young and those he influenced, including Wayne Shorter’s “Lester Left Town,” Charles Mingus’ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” and David Milne’s “The Happening.” JAZZAX and the Laura Caviani Trio will perform Caviani’s original “Suite Basie,” while swinging vocalist Charmin Michelle will present American popular songs immortalized by Young and Billie Holiday.

Led by David Milne, the JAZZAX Saxophone Quartet includes four of the most respected saxophonists in the upper Midwest: David Milne (soprano, alto sax), a Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, who plays with the JazzMN Big Band and Out to Lunch Quintet; Michael Walk (alto sax), an Instrumental Music Instructor for Stillwater (MN) Area Schools who plays throughout western Wisconsin and with the JazzMN Big Band; Pete Whitman (tenor sax), head of the Brass and Woodwinds Department at McNally Smith College in St. Paul, leader of The Pete Whitman Quartet and Xtet, and member of the JazzMN Big Band; and Greg Keel (baritone sax), who is on the faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music and a member of the JazzMN Big Band. [FFI on the JAZZAX Saxophone Quartet visit, .]
Special guest saxman Dave Karr grew up in New York and has enjoyed a career spanning nearly six decades. Leader of the Dave Karr Quartet and Mulligan Stew, and member of the JazzMn Big Band, Dave is the first of first-call multi-reedists (tenor and bari sax, flute and clarinet). Supporting the horns will be the Laura Caviani Trio; pianist Laura Caviani, a well-known performer, composer and educator, plays regularly with Pete Whitman’s X-Tet while teaching at St. Olaf and Carleton colleges; bassist Gordy Johnson is everyone’s first-call, currently touring with vocalist Stacey Kent, and plays locally with the Dakota Trio and with numerous ensembles and vocalists. Drummer Phil Hey toured with the late Dewey Redman and currently with Stacey Kent, leads his own Quartet, and plays regularly with the X-Tet and Dakota Trio.

Channeling Billie Holiday at the Capri, vocalist Charmin Michelle has one of the most easily recognized voices in town, and is heard weekly at Fireside Pizza and Cinema Ballroom. She tours Spain frequently and has appeared on club and concert stages (including Orchestra Hall) throughout the Twin Cities. The TCJS “Jazz from J to Z” opening concert, “A Tribute to Lester Young,” takes place Sept. 27, 3 p.m., at the Capri Theater, 2027 W. Broadway, Minneapolis.
Admission at the door is $20; $15 for TCJS members and students. FFI, visit .
http://www.tcjs.org/content/view/87/2/

The Dozens - Lester Young at 100

by Michael J. West
(artwork by Merryl Jaye)
It’s hard to imagine what it was like. Today, New York City is so entrenched as the jazz scene of record that the very notion of another scene rising up to challenge its primacy seems laughable. And it’s even harder in this eclectic, ever-expansive musical climate to conceive of a world in which one man could dictate the sound and feel that his instrument should have.

Yet in the late 1930s, New York had a formidable rival in the Depression-era boomtown of Kansas City, Missouri. And out of that city’s blues- and rhythm-drenched aesthetic came the melodic, airborne sound of Lester Young’s tenor saxophone, which also introduced new ideas about harmony and rhythm and overnight became the gold standard of how the sax was supposed to be played.
Born 100 years ago this week, Lester Willis Young displays his impact everywhere. For every obvious disciple (Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Paul Desmond) there’s a musician who at first sounds nothing like the man Billie Holiday nicknamed The President or “Prez,” but upon closer inspection is heavily indebted (Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Marion Brown). Not to mention his curious lingo, his fashion sense, and his distinct cockeyed playing stance, all of which were widely copied too: one writer places Young on a “Mount Rushmore of hipness.”

Yet there’s something else unique about Lester Young. Most of jazz’s greatest players did groundbreaking work as leaders in their own right. But as revolutionary as Young was, the saxophonist produced nearly all of his major work as a sideman. He made his reputation as the featured soloist in the Count Basie Orchestra, graduated to legend as an accompanist for Billie Holiday, and even in his small-group sessions hid behind leaderless monikers like “Kansas City Six.” Young’s music under his own name was still brilliant—sometimes among his very best—but never as earth-shattering as the records he made with the Count or Lady Day. Still, there’s no question that Young was a leader in his jazz universe, not a follower; like many geniuses, he needed partners, other great talents to challenge and complement him. (That even held true in his early solo performances, where Prez encountered an eager and accomplished young pianist by the name of Nat Cole.)
As a sideman or leader, every phase of Young’s career had merit, if not superb music. Below are a dozen of the most important or representative works from each era from his first recording session in 1936 to shortly before his alcoholism-related death in 1959. Happy birthday, Mr. President.
http://www.jazz.com/dozens/the-dozens-lester-young-at-100

Lester Young & Red Callender - Jitterbug Jam

Lester Young,
Red Callender,
Harry Edison,
Marlowe Morris,
Sidney Catlett and many others.