Lester Young | |
|---|---|
 Young (left) in 1944 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | "Pres" or "Prez" |
| Born | Lester Willis Young (1909-08-27)August 27, 1909 Woodville, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | March 15, 1959(1959-03-15) (aged 49) New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1933–1959 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of |
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Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an Americanjazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.
Coming to prominence while a member ofCount 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 sophisticatedharmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funkyriffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike".[1]
Known for his hip, introverted style,[2] he invented or popularized much of thehipsterjargon which came to be associated with the music.[3]
Lester Young was born inWoodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909,[4] to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana.[4] Lester had two siblings – a brother,Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irma Cornelia.[5] He grew up in a musical family. His father was a teacher and band leader. While growing up in theAlgiers neighborhood ofNew Orleans, he worked from the age of five to make money for the family. He sold newspapers and shined shoes. By the time he was ten, he had learned the basics of thetrumpet,violin, anddrums, and joined theYoung Family Band touring with carnivals and playing in regional cities in the Southwest.[6][2] Young's early musical influences includedLouis Armstrong,Bix Beiderbecke,Jimmy Dorsey, andFrankie Trumbauer.
In his teens, he and his father clashed, and he often left home for long periods.[6] His family moved toMinneapolis, Minnesota, in 1919 and Young stayed there for much of the 1920s, first picking up the tenor saxophone while living there.[7] Young left the family band in 1927 at the age of 18 because he refused to tour in theSouthern United States, whereJim Crow laws were in effect and racial segregation was required in public facilities.[8] He became a member of the Bostonians, led by Art Bronson, and chose the tenor saxophone over the alto as his primary instrument. He made a habit of leaving, working, then going home. He left home permanently in 1932 when he became a member of theBlue Devils led byWalter Page.[6]
In 1933, Young settled inKansas City where, after playing briefly in several bands, he rose to prominence withCount Basie. His playing in the Basie band was characterized by a relaxed style which contrasted sharply with the more forceful approach of his bandmate Hershel Evans, an alumnus ofColeman Hawkins, the dominant tenor sax player of the day.[9] One of Young's key influences wasFrankie Trumbauer, who came to prominence in the 1920s withPaul Whiteman and played theC-melody saxophone (between the alto and tenor in pitch).[10] Young left the Basie band to replace Hawkins inFletcher Henderson's orchestra,[11] but he soon left to play in theAndy Kirk band (for six months) before returning to Basie.
Young recorded his first sides ever in 1936, with Basie but not with his orchestra but with a quintet, among the four side one of Lester masterpieces: his improvisation on the chords of the GershwinianLady Be Good. In the next four years with the Basie band, and in different small formations, other gems were recorded: "Every Tub", "Texas Shuffle", "Jumpin' at the Woodside", "Clap Hands! Here Comes Charley!", and "You Can Depend On Me" with a septet. While with Basie, Young made also small-group classic recordings with Billie Holiday, underTeddy Wilson's conduction, and forMilt Gabler'sCommodore Records. Although recorded in New York, they are named after theKansas City Seven ofBuck Clayton,Dicky Wells, Basie, Young,Freddie Green, Rodney Richardson, andJo Jones. In these sessions Young played also clarinet in a "liquid, nervous style."[12] His clarinet work from 1938–39 is documented on recordings with Basie orchestra and small groups andBillie Holiday.
Billie and Lester met at a Harlem jam session in the early 1930s and worked together in the Count Basie band and in nightclubs onNew York's 52nd St. At one point Lester moved into the apartment Billie shared with her mother, Sadie Fagan. Holiday always insisted their relationship was strictly platonic. She gave Lester the nickname "Pres" (sometimes written as "Prez") because he was the president of the saxophone.[13][14] Playing on her name, he would call her "Lady Day."
Young's clarinet was stolen in 1939, so he abandoned the instrument until about 1957 whenNorman Granz gave him one and urged him to play it (with very different results at that stage in Young's life).
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,[11] although Young and drummerJo Jones would later state that his departure had been in the works for months.
Subsequently Young led a number of small groups that, for the next couple of years, often included his brother drummerLee Young; live and broadcast recordings from this period exist. Young accompanied the singerBillie Holiday in a couple of studio sessions (1937–1941) and also made a small set of recordings withNat "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 therecording ban by the American Federation of Musicians. Small record labels not bound by union contracts continued to record, and Young recorded some sessions forHarry Lim'sKeynote label in 1943.
In December 1943, Young returned to the Basie fold for a 10-month stint, cut short by his beingdrafted into theU.S. Army duringWorld War II. 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 cane 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 anebonite Brilhart. In August 1944, Young appeared alongside drummerJo Jones, trumpeterHarry "Sweets" Edison, and fellow tenor saxophonistIllinois Jacquet inGjon Mili's short filmJammin' the Blues.
In September 1944, Young andJo Jones were inLos Angeles with the Basie Band when they were inducted into theU.S. Army. Unlike many white musicians, who were placed in band outfits such as the ones led byGlenn Miller andArtie Shaw, Young was assigned to the regular army where he was not allowed to play his saxophone.[15] Based inFt. McClellan, Alabama, Young was found withmarijuana and alcohol; he was sooncourt-martialed. Young did not fight the charges and was convicted. He served one traumatic year in a detention barracks[16] and wasdishonorably discharged in late 1945. His experience inspired his composition "D.B. Blues" (D.B. standing for Detention Barracks).[17]
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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 joinedNorman Granz'sJazz at the Philharmonic troupe in 1946, touring regularly with JATP over the next 12 years. He made many studio recordings under Granz's supervision as well, including more trio recordings withNat King Cole. Young also recorded extensively in the late 1940s forAladdin Records (1945-1947, where he had made the Cole recordings in 1942) and forSavoy (1944, 1949 and 1950), some sessions of which included Basie on piano.
From around 1951, Young's level of playing declined more precipitously as his drinking increased. 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).[18] Young's playing and health went into a crisis, culminating in a November 1955 hospital admission following anervous breakdown.
He emerged from this treatment improved. In January 1956, he recorded two Granz-produced sessions including a reunion with pianist Teddy Wilson, trumpet playerRoy Eldridge, trombonistVic Dickenson, bassistGene Ramey, and drummerJo Jones – which were issued asThe Jazz Giants '56 andPres and Teddy albums. 1956 was a relatively good year for Lester Young, including a tour of Europe withMiles Davis and theModern Jazz Quartet and a successful residency at Olivia Davis' Patio Lounge inWashington, D.C., with theBill Potts Trio. Live recordings of Young and Potts in Washington were issued later.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Young occasionally played as a featured guest with the Count Basie Orchestra. The best-known of these appearances is the July 1957 performance at theNewport Jazz Festival, with a line-up including many of his 1940s colleagues: Jo Jones, Roy Eldridge, Illinois Jacquet andJimmy Rushing. In 1952 he was featured onLester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio, released in 1954 onNorgran.[19] In 1956, he recorded two LPs with his 1930s collaboratorsTeddy Wilson andJo Jones. AllMusic'sScott Yanow, reviewing one of the albums,Pres and Teddy, commented:
Although it has been written much too often that Lester Young declined rapidly from the mid-'40s on, the truth is that when he was healthy, Young played at his very best during the '50s, adding an emotional intensity to his sound that had not been present during the more carefree days of the '30s. This classic session finds the great tenor in particularly expressive form.[20]
On December 8, 1957, Young appeared withBillie Holiday,Coleman Hawkins,Ben Webster,Roy Eldridge, andGerry Mulligan in theCBS television specialThe Sound of Jazz, performing Holiday's tune "Fine and Mellow." It was a reunion with Holiday, with whom he had lost contact over the years. She was also in physical decline, near the end of her career, yet they both gave moving performances. Young's solo was brilliant, acclaimed by some observers as an unparalleled marvel of economy, phrasing and extraordinarily moving emotion;Nat Hentoff, one of the show's producers, later commented, "Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard... in the control room we were all crying."[21]
Young made his final studio recordings and live performances inParis in March 1959 with drummerKenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate next to nothing and drank heavily. On a flight to New York City, he suffered from internal bleeding due to the effects of alcoholism and died in the early morning hours of March 15, 1959, only hours after arriving back in New York, at the age of 49.[22]
According to jazz criticLeonard 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."[23] Holiday died four months later on July 17, 1959, at age 44.[24]
Young's playing style influenced many musicians, includingJohn Coltrane,Stan Getz,B.B. King,John Lewis,Zoot Sims,Al Cohn,Warne Marsh,Gerry Mulligan,Lee Konitz, andPaul Desmond.Paul Quinichette modeled his style so closely on Young's that he was sometimes referred to as the "Vice Prez" (sic).[25]Sonny Stitt began to incorporate elements from Lester Young's approach when he made the transition totenor saxophone. Lester Young also had a direct influence on the youngCharlie Parker, and thus the entirebebop movement.[26]
Young also influenced non-musicians such asAllen Ginsberg andJack Kerouac. He is also said to have popularized use of the term "cool" to mean something fashionable.[27] Another slang term he is rumoured to have coined or popularized was the term "bread," meaning money. He would ask, "How does the bread smell?" when asking how much a gig was going to pay.[28]
Lester married three times. His first marriage was to Beatrice Tolliver, inAlbuquerque, on February 23, 1930.[29] His second was to Mary Dale. His third wife was Mary Berkeley; they had two children.[30][31]
His son, Lester Young, Jr. became an educator and in 2021 was elected chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, the first African American to hold that position.[32]
Charles Mingus dedicated anelegy to Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", only a few months after his death, and released it on his 1959 albumMingus Ah Um.[33] Mingus re-released "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" under the name "Theme for Lester Young" on his 1964 albumMingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus. At Mingus’s request,Joni Mitchell wrote lyrics to "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" which incorporated stories Mingus told Mitchell about Young; the song was featured on Mitchell’s 1979 album release,Mingus, a collaboration instigated by Mingus during the last year of his life as he struggled with the ALS that would kill him. The resulting song then became both an elegy to Young, and, implicitly, Mingus as well.
Wayne Shorter, then ofArt Blakey'sJazz Messengers, composed a tribute called "Lester Left Town," which was released on the Jazz Messengers' 1960 albumThe Big Beat.[34]
In 1981OyamO (Charles F. Gordon) published the bookThe Resurrection of Lady Lester, subtitled "A Poetic Mood Song Based on the Legend of Lester Young", depicting Young's life. The work was subsequently adapted for the theater, and was staged in November of that year at theManhattan Theater Club,New York City, with a four-piece jazz combo led by Dwight Andrews.[35]
In the 1986 filmRound Midnight, the fictional main character Dale Turner, played byDexter 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. Young is a major character inEnglish writerGeoff Dyer's 1991 fictional book about jazz,But Beautiful.
The1994 documentary about the 1958Esquire "A Great Day in Harlem" photograph of jazz musicians in New York, contains many remembrances of Young. For many of the other participants, the photo shoot was the last time they saw him alive; he was the first musician in the famous photo to pass away.
Don Byron recorded the albumIvey-Divey in gratitude for what he learned from studying Lester Young's work, modeled after a 1946 trio date withBuddy Rich andNat King Cole. "Ivey-Divey" was one of Lester Young's common eccentric phrases.
Young was the subject and inspiration ofPrez. Homage to Lester Young (1993), a book of poetry by Vancouver writerJamie Reid.
Young was the subject of an opera,Prez: A Jazz Opera, that was written by Bernard Cash andAlan Plater and broadcast byBBC television in 1985.[36]
Peter Straub's short story collectionMagic 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 showThe Sound of Jazz, which he watched repeatedly, wondering how such a genius could have ended up "this present shambles, this human wreckage, hardly able to play at all".[37]
On March 17, 2003, Young was added to theASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame, along withSidney Bechet, Al Cohn, Nat "King" Cole,Peggy Lee and Teddy Wilson. He was represented at the ceremony by his children Lester Young Jr and Yvette Young.[38]
| Recorded[39] | Album | Catalog No. | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | The Lester Young Buddy Rich Trio | MGN 1074 | 1956 | Reissued as Verve MGV 8164 (1957?) |
| 1950-1951 | Pres | MGN 1072 | 1956? | Reissued as Verve MGV 8162 (1957?) |
| 1950-1952 | The President | MGN 1005 | 1954 | |
| 1950-1952 | Lester Swings Again (reissue of MGN1005) | MGN 1093 | 1956 | Reissued as Verve MGV 8181 (1957?) |
| 1951-1953 | Lester's Here | MGN 1071 | 1956 | Reissued as Verve MGV 8161 (1957) |
| 1952 | Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio #1 | MGN 5 Reissued in 1054 | 1954 | 10" |
| 1952 | Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio #2 | MGN 6 Reissued in 1054 | 1954 | 10" |
| 1952 | The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio | MGN 1054 | 1955 | Reissued as Verve MGV 8144 (1957) |
| 1954 | It Don't Mean a Thing (reissued as MGN 1100) | MGN 1022 | 1955 | Reissued as Verve MGV 8187 (1957) |
| 1955 | Pres and Sweets | MGN 1043 | 1956 | Reissued as Verve MGV 8134 (1957) |
| 1956 | The Jazz Giants '56 | MGN 1056 | 1956 | Reissued as Verve MGV 8146 (1956) |
| 1956 | Pres and Teddy | Verve MGV 8316 | 1957 | withTeddy Wilson |
| 1957-1958 | Going for Myself | Verve MGV 8298 | 1958 | withHarry Edison |
| 1958 | Laughin' to Keep from Cryin' | Verve MGV 8316 | 1959? | withRoy Eldridge andHarry Edison |
| 1959 | Lester Young in Paris | Verve MGV 8378 | 1960 | Reissued asLe dernier message de L Y |
| Recorded | Album | Notes | Catalog No. | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple years | Pres | Live (Savoy Ballroom) | 402 | 1961 |
| 1950 | Pres is Blue | Live (Savoy Ballroom) | 405 | 1963 |
| 1948-1949 | Just You, Just Me | Live At Royal Roost | 409 | 1961 |
| ? | Live at the Savoy (akaThe Pres) | Live | 504 | 1981 |
| ? | An Historical Meeting At The Summit | withCharlie Parker | 828 | 1961 |
| Recorded | Album | Notes | Catalog No. | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Pres, In Washington, DC 1956, volume 1 | Live | 2308219 | 1980 |
| 1956 | Prez, In Washington, DC 1956, volume 2 | Live | 2308225 | 1980 |
| 1956 | Pres, In Washington, DC 1956, volume 3 | Live | 2308228 | 1981 |
| 1956 | Pres, In Washington, DC 1956, volume 4 | Live | 2308230 | 1981 |
With theCount Basie Orchestra
WithBillie Holiday
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