Jazz Birthday: Lester Young (1909)

Jazz and freedom are very closely linked. No Al Gore claims to have invented jazz! Jelly Roll Morton did, but that’s another story. I’ve quoted tenor saxophonist Lester Young before: “What you do is your business. What I do is my business.” He also spoke up for developing an individual style. Known as “Prez,” Young first was influenced by Frankie Trumbauer who played a C-melody sax and cut many sides with Bix. In turn, Young’s cool style influenced many players like Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker, Zoot Sims, Warne Marsh, and Gerry Mulligan. In the 1930s, Young hit one of his creative peaks, recording numerous outstanding solos with the Basie orchestra. Here’s an example of his later work. He takes the first solo on tenor (wearing his signature pork pie hat), Flip Phillips the second.

Many jazz artists intersected with heavy-handed police and the government. Young was drafted into the army in 1944. His was a Gandhi-like response. He spent ten months in detention for smoking grass and being disobedient. He often played the D.B. Blues (Detention Barrack Blues).

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12:55 pm on August 27, 2012