Honoring the legacy
This site is dedicated to the memory of Lester Young, one of the world's greatest jazz stylists.
Latest update:
Sept., 20.2018
23 August - 12 September 2018
2 September 2018
John Coltrane / Lester Young
Dominic Green listens to John Coltrane 's "Both Directions at Once. The Lost Album" and discusses what he calls the saxophonist's "late style", comparing it to Coltrane's early and middle style, and finding that the fact that "The Lost Album" was celebrated as the year's most significant jazz release says a lot "about the health of jazz in 2018", ending with this statement: "For it is a sad fact of musical history that after Coltrane, there was nothing left to say on the saxophone. But Kenny G said it anyway" ( Weekly Standard). --- Kevin Sun transcribes and annotates nine solos by Lester Young, namely his saxophone choruses on "Oh, Lady Be Good!", "Exactly Like You", "One O'Clock Jump", "I Know That You Know", "Taxi War Dance", "Twelfth Street Rag", "Bugle Call Rag", "Broadway" and "Beautiful Eyes" ( A Horizontal Search).
Sept. 10., 2018
From Mosaic Music: The fabulous Carnival of Swing on Randall Island.
Just listen here: http://www.mosaicrecords.com/?utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_medium=email&utm_content=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mosaicrecords.com&utm_campaign=22266308&utm_umg_et=266839542
August 9., 2018
Totally new:
Birdland All Stars featuring Miles Davis, Bud Powell AND LESTER YOUNG
November 6., 1956 in Hamburg
- On YouTube right now!
July, 2018
The Savory Collection with all Basie-takes has arrived. Stunning and very valuable. Again and again: Young was "miles ahead" of all others in his time - He and Basie invented a whole new era in jazz.
Enjoy:
Order on Mosaicrecords.com:
The Savory Collection 1935-1940
(6 CDs)
Then came the shock of my life! Could it be? Basie,then Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, and that was just in the first couple of boxes! The discs were mostly aluminum – that was unusual – and in varying states of decomposition, but some were absolutely pristine. – Loren Schoenberg
Thank you for all your efforts on bringing fine preserved og historical important music again and again. Worth all costs -even if you live in Europe and must take the taxes from US :-)
May 7., 2018
Lester Young - The Sax Giant in the Studio. Read here:
Lester Young: The Sax Giant in the Studio.pdf
February 19.,2018
Günther Schuller has some remarks on Lester Young. Listen here:
January 22., 2018
Sonny Rollins: a new look on Lester Young: He was a raising star all the way through his life. Listen to these important remarks from a follow musician:
Again thank you to Mosaic Records - You made my Day!!
January 1., 2018
Savory-Basie complete on Mosaic Records. Order now - to ship i February:
http://www.mosaicrecords.com/genres.asp?dept=50
And now the Million-Dollar-Question: are there more Lester Young takes left in the Savory files? If so: we hardly can't wait :-)
Thanks to Mosaic Records!
NB: release is postponed till April 2018 :-(
August 14., 2017
Just how modern in 1941 - Listen here:
http://www.wnyc.org/story/44468-the-modernist-style-of-lester-young/
March 6., 2017
Art Farmer talks about Lester Young and Buck Clayton:
Feb. 20., 2017
Frank Sinatra talks about Lester Young in an interwiev.
Lester Young loved Frank Sinatra records and Frank loved Lester. Now, we might recognize Arlene Francis for her decades old run on the game show What’s My Line? but there was also a 23 year run on WOR Radio in New York where she was host of a popular talk show. In this fascinating clip, Arlene interviews Sinatra, as he answers her question of whether it’s important for an instrumentalist (or conductor) to understand the lyrics of a song. Interesting!
-Scott Wenzel
Listen here
January 4.,2017
The brand-new Basie/Lester Young SAVORY can be found on iTunes. 22 exiting takes from the 1930'ies: "Savory Collection Vol. 2".
Newly discovered: The DownBeat interview with Lester Young, DB from May 6, 1946:
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9yk9ofYRv8
January 1.,2017
Mosaic's new Lester Young box set. Check this link:
http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=263-MD-CD
March 21.,2016
Latest from www.mosaicrecords.com:
Lester Young’s Greatest Rare Solo?
Facebook has outstanding groups on a number of subjects, and jazz is no exception. The Lester Young Appreciation Society page is one well worth visiting, and a recent topic dealt with a rare soundtrack that never made it to the glorious Jammin’ The Blues. In posting this clip to the Lester Young Appreciation Society Facebook page, Loren Schoenberg writes:
“This might be the greatest almost unknown 16-bar solo of Lester’s career - it’s a match to the Mili LIFE photo of Lester and Big Sid.
"Trombonist Dicky Wells was in the Basie band with Lester, Jo Jones and Sweets Edison when they began recording the soundtrack for JAMMIN’ THE BLUES during the summer of 1944. By the time they shot the film, Wells was out, but some of the tracks have survived. Harry "Sweets” Edison (tp) Dicky Wells (tb) Lester Young (ts) Marlowe Morris (p) Barney Kessel (g) Red Callender (b) Sidney Catlett (d) Marie Bryant (vcl)“
-Scott Wenzel
Visit mosaic records.com
February 16.,2016
Earliest interview with Lester Young: 1947 WMEX Radio Station between May 26. and June 8. From Savoy Ballroom Boston.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao5WzUExmL8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCxZ5YIBTfA
- B.B. King reflects on Lester Young!
Lester Young in an extended 1951 interview with Leonard Feather
It starts with him responding to recordings we don't hear for a Blindfold Test but then it opens up. A friend of Lester's (probably his manager Charlie Carpenter) says that when Lester talks to HIM, he talks English, not what he's doing now. But there are many treasures to be found in everything Lester says and HOW he says it.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9yk9ofYRv8
July 16, 2015:
Link to a fine tune "Sometimes I'm Happy":
http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2015/06/getting-happy-with-lester-young.html
- listen and enjoy!
February 4, 2015:
Any additional information on this YouTube-clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKlZ5sqL7YM
- the original sound is missing, but the filmclip may be original from JATP Tour 1953 to Helsinki, Finland
January 16. 2015
Don’t miss Ferrini’s filmclip.
Take a look here:
October 20. 2014
Wayne Shorter meets Lester Young.
Listen here
August 27. 2014
Lester Young & Charlie Parker Birthday Celebration.
Read more
June 4. 2014
Prez and Lee Konitz
I often read and/or heard that Lee Konitz was deeply influenced by Prez. Sure I could hear the emphasis on melodic lines, but when I asked him about it, in a very Konitz way, he just replied that he listened to Prez among others. So, I was never sure about Prez's influence until we played for a week at the Jazz Standard (NY).
Each day of that week, we walked down the Jazz Standard stairs, Lee in front, and I observing in the back. There were lots of Jazz pictures, but he only stopped at the last one. That was Prez's picture and Lee said would make the same comment: that's the man!!! Now I know!!!
Denis Lee
(saxophone and bass clarinet, member of the Lee Konitz New Nonet)
May 2. 2014
New film:
See more
Lester Young-blog:
Read more
March 24. 2014
Article in the New York Times:
Read more
January 29. 2014
Last Lester Young Session - now on Vinyl:
Read more
August 8. 2013
SENSATIONAL NEW PRES FROM 1950:
Read more:
May 14. 2013
Brandnew CD set "Dinnertime for Hungry Collectors"
- 50 years Doctor Jazz Magazine CD-set -
3 unissued performances with Lester Young
Read more
May 5. 2013
Minnesota Historical Society
North Side Jazz: Lester "Pres" Young in Minneapolis: The Formative Years.
Read more
January 21. 2013
New Release: Lester Young at Birdland 1951 CCD79560
read more
October 10. 2012
New Savory: Jumping At the Woodside/Basie Orch. & Lester Young 1939.
Check this link: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2010/aug/24/savory-recordings/
June 22. 2012
New: Photos of Lester Young.
Please visit
http://blogs.voanews.com/jazz-beat/tag/pork-pie-hat/
and
http://www.philsternarchives.com/archive/jazz/artists/lester-young/
March 9. 2012
New photos Basie and Lester Young 1944. Check this link:
newarkwww.rutgers.edu/ijs/cb/columbia.htm
February 2. 2012
New information about Lester Young:
dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/2-oh-lady.html
January 6. 2012
New songclip:
Lester Young - Southland Café, Boston.
Check this link
November 22. 2011
New book:
Tad Hershorn:
Norman Granz
- The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice -
Foreword by Oscar Peterson
New important book with many new details about Lester Young.
Found at NORBERT RUECKER www.jazz-book.com
May 18. 2011
Looking for Lester. A journal about the process of making a documentary film about the jazz legend. See more, follow this link
May 18. 2011
Lowell Blues - 30 min documentary
Check this link
January 19. 2011
Brand new photo from Frankfurt, Germany 1956.
Courtesy: Matts Werner, Sweden
January 7. 2011
An amazing live clip of Lester with the Basie band at the 17th Regiment Armory in Brooklyn, April 16., 1944: check this link
And, the wonderful "Mean to me" from Art Ford´s jazz party.
June 9. 2010
Storyville recently released a new album with new exclusive material - you can find it here.
September 9. 2010
Check out this link to newsweek for some audio exclusives - Especially video 2: Count Basie's playing "Bugle Call Rag". Enjoy.
August 18. 2010
The Savory Collection” consists of 975 discs with recordings of live performances broadcast by radio stations in the late 1930s, the height of the swing era, and into 1940. Recorded by audio engineer William Savory, the discs feature Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, Bunny Berigan and Lester Young, playing in the relaxed setting of a nightclub or ballroom, rather than the confines of a recording studio, where songs could not exceed three minutes in length. For that reason, and the quality of the music played, Loren Schoenberg, the executive director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, describes the Savory collection as “one of the greatest finds” in the history of jazz.
Below here you will find a sample of Lester Young - Tea for Two, which was recorded alongside with trumpeter Roy Eldridge and members of the Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw bands. The sudden and unexpected key changes in "Tea for Two" have always appealed to jazz musicians, and the top-flight ensemble assembled here really takes the song for a ride. Top honors go to Young's, free flowing solo, which is capped by a second chorus that Mr. Schoenberg calls "a wild, spontaneous moment of abandon".
Follow the below here to NYtimes articles on more about the greats of Jazz
National Jazz Museum acquires Savory Collection
Tea for Two
Jazz Museum Sample
November 15. 2010
Released on november 4: The Jazz aux Champs-Élysées CD.
Highlights from a cult French radio programme featuring previously unreleased recordings by legendary jazz musicians. Follow this link for more information
September 9., 2009
thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2009/08/lester-young-centennial.html
"DO THE MATH" – Lester Young Centennial
September 9., 2009
thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2009/08/lester-young-centennial.html
"DO THE MATH" – Lester Young Centennial
New weblinks:
Here are some other Lester web links for you:
http://www.wbgo.org/LESTERYOUNG/
They will add audio to the above site within a week, they say.
http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2009/8/22/why-lester-young-matters
"Why Lester Young Matters – jazz.com"
August 20. 2009
Read Will Friedwald's tribute to Lester Young:
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574356562790622616.html
August 17. 2009
The well-known Kansas City Six session with Lester Young made for the Commodore label is listed everywhere as recorded on September 27, 1938. It was made by Columbia for Commodore, and Columbia master numbers were assigned to those titles (P23421-25).
Strangely enough, those numbers seem to come from an earlier date: Masters 23415/18 (Leighton Noble Orchestra) are from September 7. 23419/20 are not known and 23428/33 (Al Donahue) are from September 9. Futher, 23426 (presumably not issued) was listed in Columbia cards as made for Commodore on September 8 (details unknown). (23427 was assigned to a remastering of a Rev. Gates 1929 recording).
From the above, I incline to think that the actual date of Kansas Citi Six session might have been held on September 7 og 8.
Michel Ruppli
Later: According to Rust the date is September 8.
August 4. 2009 - Lester Young Celebration-e-card
The new Lester Young celebration e-card added. Make sure to send them to your jazz-loving friends.
July 29. 2009 - New Lester Young YouTube clips added!
New Lester Young YouTube clips added to the Film and Movies page. Click hereto check them out. Enjoy! External seo links: Teamoptimering, Webshop Esbjerg.
