Home » Search Center » Results: Billy Lester
Results for "Billy Lester"
Results for pages tagged "Billy Lester"...
Billy Lester
Pianist Billy Lester is a late-bloomer on that reticent branch of the jazz tree, the school of Lennie Tristano.
An instinctively lyrical yet unfettered improviser who creates original compositions from variations on classic American songs' chord changes, Lester -- like his mentor Sal Mosca, one of Tristano's most acclaimed students -- has developed his art almost in private. A youthful prodigy who was playing by age four, the soft-spoken, self-questioning Lester has taught piano for decades in his hometown of Yonkers just beyond New York City's limits, and devotes himself to family life. But with children now grown, at age 52 he's felt the yen to gig, and finds the public stage surprisingly rewarding.
High Standards
By Billy Lester
Label: Ultra Sound Records
Released: 2025
Track listing: There Will Never Be Another You; Somebody Loves Me; What Is This Thing Called Love?; I’ll
Remember April; You Go to My Head; Just Friends; Out of Nowhere; Lover, Come Back to Me;
Free Improvisation.
New Music From Bailis, Petrillo, Ortiz & More
by Bob Osborne
A selection of brand new releases from around the world together with four more great examples from the recent re-issue of the Strata-East catalogue provides for a fascinating two hours of music. Playlist David Bailis “Ordinary Trash" from Running Through My Mind (Create or Destroy) 00:00 Pat Petrillo “Late Night Diner" from Contemporaneous ...
Terry Callier, Tobias Meinhart, and The Thing
by Jerome Wilson
This episode features jazz hybrids by Terry Callier, Tone Forest, and The Thing as well as purer genre sounds from the likes of Melissa Aldana, Tobias Meinhart, and Mose Allison. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) ...
Billy Lester Trio: High Standards
by Jack Bowers
Pianist Billy Lester's album High Standards, recorded in 2017 in Italy, encompasses Lester's singular versions of eight memorable standards from the Great American Songbook. Although Lester plays sublimely, and his Italian rhythm section is first-class, the lingering impression is that something is missing. Yes, something is clearly missing...but what could it be? Lester's ...
Billy Lester: Unabridged
by Howard Mandel
Pianist Billy Lester is a musical original. That's obvious from the first, oh, 17 seconds of Unabridged, his sixth album and second all-solo recording. Listen to the unusual, brief motif with which Lester opens “Overture: Passionate Musings," then develops, complicates and completes it faster than you'd tie a shoelace. Pause--and he continues. Not to ...
Piano Inside And Out: You Have To Be Modernistic
by David Brown
Today, a survey of piano approaches from James P. Johnson to Dorothy Donegan to Satoko Fujii and lots of folks in between. This is piano jazz.Playlist King Fleming Trio “Junction City Blues" from Stand By (Argo) 0:00:30 Randy Weston “Boram Xam Xam" from Khepera (Verve) 0:04:01 Earl “Fatha" Hines “Blues in Thirds" from The ...
Pianoism
by Patrick Burnette
A great big heapin' helping of a certain blind pianist's work provides the anchor for this time's outing, as we look at one disc from six of a new box set and then fan out to look at a little known second-hand disciple of the great man along with two other stylists further removed. Pop matters ...
Diana Krall & Marty Elkins
by Joe Dimino
The 707th Episode of Neon Jazz is heavy on vocalists and starts with New York singer Marty Elkins and bassist Mike Richmond with a cut from their latest album 'Tis Autumn. We also hear the vocals of Staci Griesbach, Diana Krall and Vanessa Tagliabue-Yorke. From there, we dig into new music from Mariel Bildsten, Julian Lage ...
Italy 2016
By Billy Lester
Label: Ultra Sound Records
Released: 2017
Track listing: An Evening With Friends; Yeah Man!; To Julia; Pop Pop Train; Consolidation; Omens.
