Lester Young

Lester Young was born Lester Willis Young on August 27, 1909 in Woodville, Mississippi. His family moved to New Orleans, La. before settling in Minneapolis, Mn. His father taught him to play the trumpet, violin, drums, and saxophone and he played in the family band in the vaudeville and carnival circuits until he was 18.

In 1933 Young moved to Kansas City, Mo. and played in several bands before joing Count Basie. He left Basie to replace Coleman Hawkins in Fletcher Henderson's Band. Then he played in Andy Kirk's band for six months before returning to Count Basie.

Lester left Basie late in 1940 and with his brother, drummer Lee Young, led small group sessions. During this period he accompanied Billie Holiday in a couple of studio sessions and she gave him the nickname "Prez," short for President.

In September 1944, after rejoining the Basie Band the previous year, Young was inducted into the U.S. Army. In late 1945, after serving a year in the Detention Barracks, he was dishonably discharged for possession of marijuana and alcohol.

In 1946, he joined Jazz at the Philharmonic and toured regularly with them for the next 12 years. In November 1955 hhe was admitted to the hospital for a nervous breakdown and upon discharge he soon returned to drinking alcohol. He suffered from liver disease and malnutrition.

Lester made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March 1959. He died in the early morning on March 15, 1959, only hours after arriving back in New York, at the age of 49.

Earlier this afternoon I listened to "Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio." The group includes Lester Young on tenor sax, Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and J.C. Heard on the drums. Scott Yanow of AllMusic Guide gave this album a 5 star rating and called it "Essential music."

There are 14 tracks on this CD which include "I Can't Get Started," "Just You, Just Me," "Tea for Two," "Indiana," "I'm Confessin'," "Stardust," and "These Foolish Things," among others.


Here's a video of Prez playing "Polka Dots and Moonbeams."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A6ogRiaWXaU