On this date in 1909, Lester Young was born. If not for a few unfortunate lifestyle choices, he would have been 99 years old. (This isn’t extremely far-fetched, his brother Lee Young, a drummer, passed away earlier this month at the age of 94.)Hopefully, there are some Lester Young centennial tributes in the works!
Lester Young was one of the great innovators in jazz. His style was based on the two saxophonists he most admired, Jimmy Dorsey and Frankie Trumbauer. Young’s style became known for its fluidity, a judicious use of vibrato and emotion. His mature style is very evident on this October 1945 recording of “These Foolish Things” made just after he was discharged from the Army. With Young on this
If there is a word stronger than “elegance” it doesn’t exist for that is exactly what we hear from a very poetic Lester Young on tenor sax. He’s joined in this August 1946 recording by Joe Albany on piano, Red Callender on bass, Irving Ashy on guitar and Chico Hamilton on drums.
Last month, there was a lot of media hoopla over the 50th anniversary of “the day the music died.”Tomorrow on this date in 1959, Lester Young died just a few months short of his 50th birthday. Like the rockers, Pres’ passing was memorialized in song, most notably Goodbye Porkpie Hat by Charles Mingus and Wayne Shorter’s Lester Left Town.Pres is/was a highly influential voice on the saxoph
On this date in 1909, Lester Young was born. If not for a few unfortunate lifestyle choices, he would have been 99 years old. (This isn’t extremely far-fetched, his brother Lee Young, a drummer, passed away earlier this month at the age of 94.)Hopefully, there are some Lester Young centennial tributes in the works!