Biography of Lester Young

The man who brought a new sound to his chosen instrument and a new sensibility to jazz began as a drummer in the family band led by his father, then also learned violin and saxophone. He left the family band in 1928, worked with various leaders, including King Oliver (1933), and was picked by Fletcher Henderson to replace Coleman Hawkins. But Henderson's musicians couldn't accept Lester's lighter, airier sound and innovative phrasing, so after three months, Lester asked to leave, and joined Andy Kirk. It was in 1936, after he invited himself into Count Basie's little band in Kansas City, that doors began to open for Lester. His first record ("Shoe Shine Swing"/"Lady Be Good") caused quite a stir, and when he came East with Basie and started to record with Billie Holiday, the stage was set for the return from Europe of Coleman Hawkins and the great tenor divide. Lester's approach became the inspiration for cool jazz -- he was also a profound influence on young Charlie Parker. Pres, as he was now known (short for "President," the nickname was given him by Holiday), left Basie in 1940 and led his own little bands, for a while with his drummer brother, Lee. Back with Basie in 1943, he was drafted in 1944; his army experience was grim, for he was incarcerated for pot and barbiturate use. Released in 1945, he made some wonderful records (D. B. Blues, These Foolish Things), toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic, visited Europe, and maintained his place in jazz despite the rise of bop. But his health got progressively worse, mainly due to alcoholism. He died just hours after returning from a Paris engagement in his New York hotel room at the age of 49. Lester (who also invented a spoken language of his own) was the creator of a musical vocabulary that was wholly original and profoundly influential. His was a horizontal approach to melody -- not the vertical, chord-based one favored by Hawkins, for example -- and his long, sinuous lines were filled with unexpected twists and turns, swinging to the hilt. He was one of jazz's great poets and storytellers, and a master of the blues. ~ Dan Morgenstern