  |
|
|
 |
| Lester Leaps Again - Original Recordings 1942-1944 |
| Lester Young |
első megjelenés éve: 2005
65 perc |
|
| (2005)
|
|
CD |
| 3.819 Ft
|
|
| 1. | Tea For Two
|
| 2. | I Can't Get Started
|
| 3. | Body and Soul
|
| 4. | Indiana
|
| 5. | Just You, Just Me
|
| 6. | I Never Knew
|
| 7. | Afternoon Of A Basie -- ite
|
| 8. | Sometimes I'm Happy
|
| 9. | After Theatre Jump
|
| 10. | Six Cats And A Prince
|
| 11. | Lester Leaps Again
|
| 12. | Destination K.C.
|
| 13. | Indiana
|
| 14. | Blue Lester
|
| 15. | [I Don't Stand A] Ghost Of A Chance
|
| 16. | Lester's Savoy Jump
|
Jazz
Young, Lester, tenor saxophone
Lester Young Trio
Lester Young Quintet
Lester Young Quartet
Kansas City Seven
Lester Young was a true individualist, in his tenor-saxophone playing, his lifestyle and his vocabulary. Among the words he reportedly introduced were bread (meaning money), cool (not pertaining to the temperature) and groovy. When Young was developing his playing style, the dominant voice on tenor was Coleman Hawkins. Hawkins had a large sound with a hard tone, and a style that was harmonically advanced, full of notes and powerful. Nearly every other tenor-saxophonist sounded like a close relative, except Young.
Born in Woodville, Mississippi on 27 August 1909, Lester Young grew up playing music in his father's family band. He spent time playing trumpet, alto, violin and drums before settling on alto by 1920, around the time that his family had moved to Minnesota. In 1927 when he was eighteen he left the band because he did not want to travel in the South. While with Art Bronson's Bostonians, Young switched permanently to the tenor-sax. After a few years of freelancing, he joined the Original Blue Devils in 1932, settled in Kansas City and worked locally with Bennie Moten, Clarence Love, King Oliver and Count Basie (1934). He was hired as the first replacement for the recently departed Coleman Hawkins with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. Unlike Hawkins, Young had a lighterthan- air tone, he tended to float over bar lines and he played one or two notes where other saxophonists might play ten. He was technically skilled and could read music easily, but his sound was considered so revolutionary that the other musicians felt that it did not fit in the Henderson big band; Young only lasted three months. He worked with Andy Kirk and Earl Hines before rejoining Basie in 1936.
Lester Young's style was perfectly at home with the Count Basie Orchestra, contrasting with the more Hawkins-oriented sound of his fellow tenor Herschel Evans and inspiring Basie's light but hard-swinging rhythm section. Young was a large part of Basie's success when the band headed East later in 1936, and he was its key soloist for the next four years. Not only did he star on classic records with Basie but he was a co-star on many of Billie Holiday's recordings where his cool-toned sound echoed hers. He dubbed her “Lady Day” and she in turn called him “Pres,” short for president.
In December 1940 Young left Basie's band under mysterious circumstances, possibly because he did not want to record on Friday the 13th. Surprisingly Pres did not have a major solo career during the next few years, instead coleading a mostly undocumented group with his brother drummer Lee Young and working in Al Sears' big band. Among the few recording dates he made during the period are four titles on 15 July 1942 in a trio with the up-and-coming Nat King Cole (who was better known at the time as a pianist than as a singer) and bassist Red Callender. A special aspect of these four explorations of standards is that, because the music was originally released on 12-inch rather than 10-inch 78s, the performances are longer than the usual three-minute limit, with Body And Soul exceeding five minutes. Young sounds relaxed on the two ballads (I Can't Get Started and Body And Soul) while coming up with a constant flow of appealing ideas on the mediumtempo versions of Tea For Two and Indiana. And throughout, Nat Cole shows that he really was one of the top swing pianists of the era.
In October 1943, Lester Young rejoined the Count Basie Orchestra after being absent nearly three years. Because of the recording strike of 1942-44, he was not able to record with the full Basie band (other than one date in which Count was absent). But because he was signed to a different label than Basie and one that settled fairly early with the musicians union, by late- 1943 he was able to record as a leader. On 28 December 1943 Pres had one of his greatest record dates. Joined by a top-notch rhythm section comprised of pianist Johnny Guarnieri, bassist Slam Stewart and drummer Sid Catlett, Young is heard in peak form on Just You, Just Me, I Never Knew and his uptempo blues Afternoon Of a Basie-ite, playing with joy and constant creativity. Stewart's bowed solos (to which he hums along an octave higher) are witty while Guarnieri, who could be a real musical chameleon, mostly sticks to Count Basie and Teddy Wilson in his solos. The classic of the date, Sometimes I'm Happy, is one of those rare performances where every note is perfect, whether it be Stewart's charming solo or the way Young ends the performance with a quote from “My Sweetie Went Away.”
The other two sessions on this collection team Pres with key members of the Count Basie Orchestra in combos. The three spirited originals, After Theatre Jump, Six Cats And A Prince and an exuberant Destination K.C, have Young joined in the frontline by trumpeter Buck Clayton and trombonist Dickie Wells, two distinctive players who like Pres were part of Basie's early successes. One can hear in Young's solo on After Theatre Jump where Illinois Jacquet came from and, through Jacquet, a full generation of R&B tenors. Lester Leaps Again is particularly special for it features Young as the only horn, interacting at length with Basie and the classic rhythm section in a blues groove similar to One O'Clock Jump.
Forty days later, Young was back in the studio with the Basie rhythm section for four more numbers. Drummer Shadow Wilson had taken Jo Jones' place when Jones was drafted but the magic is still there as the quintet performs two of Pres' originals, Ghost Of A Chance and Indiana. A highpoint is Young's lyrical Blue Lester although each of these selections has its memorable moments.
1944 looked as if it were turning out to be one of Lester Young's greatest years, particularly after he was featured in the Academy Awardwinning film short Jammin' The Blues. But the draft board caught up with him in October and the next year would be a horrible one for Young. The quiet noncomformist could not adjust to Army life or the institutionalized racism of the period and he spent part of the time in a military prison. When he was discharged in late-1945, Young returned to his earlier playing form but he was torn apart on the inside, both emotionally and mentally. Over time both depression and excessive drinking would ruin his health and, although there were many musical highpoints during the 1950s, Lester Young's former zest for life was gone. After too little eating and too much drinking, he passed away on 15 March 1959 when he was only 49.
However some of Lester Young's happiest moments on record are contained in this definitive collection, taken from a musical golden age when Young was truly the President of the tenor-sax.
--- Scott Yanow, Author of 8 jazz books including Jazz On Film, Swing, Bebop, Trumpet Kings and Jazz On Record 1917-76
Lester Young
Active Decades: '30s, '40s and '50s
Born: Aug 27, 1909 in Woodville, MS
Died: Mar 15, 1959 in New York, NY
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Bop, Cool, Mainstream Jazz, Swing
Lester Young was one of the true jazz giants, a tenor saxophonist who came up with a completely different conception in which to play his horn, floating over bar lines with a light tone rather than adopting Coleman Hawkins' then-dominant forceful approach. A non-conformist, Young (nicknamed "Pres" by Billie Holiday) had the ironic experience in the 1950s of hearing many young tenors try to sound exactly like him.
Although he spent his earliest days near New Orleans, Lester Young lived in Minneapolis by 1920, playing in a legendary family band. He studied violin, trumpet, and drums, starting on alto at age 13. Because he refused to tour in the South, Young left home in 1927 and instead toured with Art Bronson's Bostonians, switching to tenor. He was back with the family band in 1929 and then freelanced for a few years, playing with Walter Page's Blue Devils (1930), Eddie Barefield in 1931, back with the Blue Devils during 1932-1933, and Bennie Moten and King Oliver (both 1933). He was with Count Basie for the first time in 1934 but left to replace Coleman Hawkins with Fletcher Henderson. Unfortunately, it was expected that Young would try to emulate Hawk, and his laid-back sound angered Henderson's sidemen, resulting in Pres not lasting long. After a tour with Andy Kirk and a few brief jobs, Lester Young was back with Basie in 1936, just in time to star with the band as they headed East. Young made history during his years with Basie, not only participating on Count's record dates but starring with Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson on a series of classic small-group sessions. In addition, on his rare recordings on clarinet with Basie and the Kansas City Six, Young displayed a very original cool sound that almost sounded like altoist Paul Desmond in the 1950s. After leaving Count in 1940, Young's career became a bit aimless, not capitalizing on his fame in the jazz world. He co-led a low-profile band with his brother, drummer Lee Young, in Los Angeles until re-joining Basie in December 1943. Young had a happy nine months back with the band, recorded a memorable quartet session with bassist Slam Stewart, and starred in the short film Jammin' the Blues before he was drafted. His experiences dealing with racism in the military were horrifying, affecting his mental state of mind for the remainder of his life.
Although many critics have written that Lester Young never sounded as good after getting out of the military, despite erratic health he actually was at his prime in the mid- to late-'40s. He toured (and was well paid by Norman Granz) with Jazz at the Philharmonic on and off through the '40s and '50s, made a wonderful series of recordings for Aladdin, and worked steadily as a single. Young also adopted his style well to bebop (which he had helped pave the way for in the 1930s). But mentally he was suffering, building a wall between himself and the outside world, and inventing his own colorful vocabulary. Although many of his recordings in the 1950s were excellent (showing a greater emotional depth than in his earlier days), Young was bothered by the fact that some of his white imitators were making much more money than he was. He drank huge amounts of liquor and nearly stopped eating, with predictable results. 1956's Jazz Giants album found him in peak form as did a well documented engagement in Washington, D.C., with a quartet and a last reunion with Count Basie at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. But, for the 1957 telecast The Sound of Jazz, Young mostly played sitting down (although he stole the show with an emotional one-chorus blues solo played to Billie Holiday). After becoming ill in Paris in early 1959, Lester Young came home and essentially drank himself to death. Many decades after his death, Pres is still considered (along with Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane) one of the three most important tenor saxophonists of all time.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
|
CD bolt, zenei DVD, SACD, BLU-RAY lemez vásárlás és rendelés - Klasszikus zenei CD-k és DVD-különlegességek |  | | Webdesign - Forfour Design |
|
|
