Jazz Articles about Lester Young

About Lester Young

Album Review

Norman Granz: The Sound Of America

Read "The Sound Of America" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
October 26, 2026

If there were a more important “back office" figure in the history of American jazz than Norman Granz, who would it be? When Granz first heard Coleman Hawkins, he knew that the music was going to have a major role in his life--but he did not yet know how many others would be in his debt as well. Hundreds, if not thousands of musicians would owe him a living. Some, like Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, would nearly become his ...

Radio & Podcasts

Small Groups of the 1930s – Chu, Little Jazz, Rabbit and Pres (1937 - 1940)

by Russell Perry
March 17, 2019

While the jazz of the thirties was predominantly remembered as coming from orchestras and big bands, seminal soloists continued to record memorable music in small group settings, setting the stage for disruptive industry transitions to come in the 1940s. Small groups led by Chu Berry, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Hodges and Lester Young in this hour of Jazz at 100. Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Chu Berry And His Stompy Stevedores. “Limehouse Blues" from Chu Berry: 1937-- 1941 (Classics) 2:30 ...

Radio & Podcasts

Iron Men

by Patrick Burnette
January 10, 2019

We end 2018 with a bang as the podcast celebrates its sixth--or iron--anniversary. Did you give your significant other a rose dipped in metal for your sixth? If you didn't, shame on you! Get dipping--it's never too late. As per usual at these shindigs, we discuss groups comprised of the number of musicians that the anniversary is -er, sextets, in this case. Happy New Year! Playlist Discussion of Lester Young's Kansas City Six recordings from the thirties on ...

The Jazz Life

Telling Stories and Singing Songs

by Peter Rubie
February 26, 2018

“I believe if you're paying a man to play, and that man is on the bandstand and can play, he should get a chance to tell his story." --Lester Young Prez was once asked how to improvise, and reportedly he said, “Tell them a story." Telling stories about living the jazz life in the early 21st is the heart of what this column is going to be about. Pour yourself a beer or a glass of wine, and ...

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Building a Jazz Library

Tag Team Jazz, Part 2-2

by Nathan Holaway
May 16, 2015

Part 1 | Part 2 Jazz has always celebrated rugged individuality, praising those who appreciate others but stay on their own path. So what happens when two (or more intelligent and original musicians come together? Most of the time, pure magic. Stellar tag teams have made some of the finest records in jazz history. Lester Young: Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio (Norgran, 1954) One of Young's greatest sessions, with Prez in ...

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Album Review

Lester Young: 100 Years - Forever Young

Read "100 Years - Forever Young" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
May 15, 2010

In October 1944, Lester Young, one of the most influential saxophonists in jazz, was inducted into the US army. In the 15 months that followed he was subjected to blatant racial prejudice then court martialed for possession of marijuana and alcohol and sentenced to a year in a detention barracks. He returned to civilian life severely traumatized. As a result, the received wisdom is it's not worth listening to recordings made by Young after his discharge. This ...

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Album Review

Lester Young: Centennial Celebration Lester Young

Read "Centennial Celebration Lester Young" reviewed by Andrew Velez

by Andrew Velez
April 6, 2010

Although he'd lived a scant 50 hard years when he died in 1959, tenor sax giant Lester Willis Young was and remains one of the most vital and influential forces in jazz. He used words as singularly as he played, dubbing Billie Holiday “Lady Day"; theirs was an incomparable musical pairing and she returned the favor, calling him “Prez" for president. Prez proved to be the key link between the early jazz of Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins with the ...