Happy Birthday, Lester Young

 Lester Young, born this day 1909.

We can never give him enough
credit for what he did for the saxophone. 
No one was ever more "modern."

You can spend years studying his solos 
and never get to the bottom of them.
Young spent his formative years
in New Orleans/Algiers, a fact
rarely commented on 
or appreciated.



The text above is from the ubiquitous jazzonthetube.com
but the hyperlinks take you elsewhere.

Another fact rarely commented on–and quite ironic–involves the difference
between Lester and his brother Lee.
The former was a world-famous tenor saxophonist and the latter was a jazz drummer,
virtually unknown outside of intimate jazz circles and Hollywood recording studios.
But for every dollar Lester earned, Lee Young earned five
because fame and stature as a jazz musician does not
necessarily equate with financial fortune.
Steady work in a recording studio does
the exact oposite for a jazz musician.

Lester and Lee's father, Willis Young, in addition to inoculating his offspring
with the importance of music, had a piano student named BEN WEBSTER.

If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Webster, he is eminently worth googling
or youTubing. Along with Lester Young and COLEMAN HAWKINS,
Ben Webster was part of the "Holy Trinity of Tenor Saxophonists." *


Happy #103, Lester Young!

This video features "The Prez" in a rare trio setting with piano (Nat King Cole)
and drums (Buddy Rich).

Ultimately published as CENTRAL AVENUE SOUNDS, Lee Young was interviewed
for the UCLA "Oral History Program."

CENTRAL AVENUE SOUNDS has–at least–fifty references to Jefferson High School
and Samuel Rodney Browne.



*On one of the most distinguished jazz videos of all-time, the "Holy Trinity" 
plays FINE AND MELLOW. 

The 1956 performance opens with commentary by composer/singer, Billie Holiday.