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Home , Lester Young

ALTHOUGHColeman Hawkins was the fa- Volume 2 is almost entirely devoted to of Basie's can measure up ther oftenor - ,Lester some of these wonderfully cogent, informal to the best he did for Decca, but it was still an Young raised it to maturity. In the Twenties, all-star sessions featuring in her exceptional band and there is much to be ad- when Hawkins' playing with the Fletcher prime. Through some vagary of chronology it mired about the sides included here. Henderson band had every young tenor play- also includes an inexplicably abbreviated ver- Producer Brooks has, of course, omitted er striving to emulate his warm tone and sion of the Honeysuckle Rose those sides on which Lester Young partici- rhythmic resilience, Young sought inspiration from Benny Gobdman's famous 1938 Carne- pates but does not solo, and if I cannot wholly from a white man, , and gie Hall concert. With only a skimpy five to accept his reduction of the Goodman jam ses- tried to produce on the tenor the sound Trum- seven cuts per side (eight 78 -rpm sides will fit sion to four minutes, or his inclusion of alter- bauer achieved on the C -melody saxophone. nicely on a single face of a long-playing disc nate takes, I must give him credit for some of What Young came up with was a radically dif- without distortion), I can think of no valid ex- the most useful, informative liner notes I have ferent, cooler tone which apparently took cuse for cutting ten minutes out of the four- ever read. They tell the story in the words of some getting used to. teen -minute version originally issued by Co- Young himself, drummer , and the In 1934, when Hawkins left Henderson's lumbia, ten minutes that rob us of solos by Basie band's Great White Father, John Ham- band to go to Europe, Young, who had been , Johnny Hodges, Basie, and mond, all neatly tied together with Brooks' making $15 a week with a struggling Basie Goodman himself. own astute observations and witty comments. group in Kansas City, was hired as his re- Credit should also go to engineer Doug Pome- placement-for $75 a week plus uniform. "I roy, who did a splendid job of keeping it all had a lot of trouble there," he recalled some clean and clear. Having done reissues for Co- twenty years later. "The whole band was lumbia myself,I know the awful state of buzzing on me because I had taken Hawk's much of the source material. place. I was rooming at the Henderson house, - and Leora Henderson would wake me early in the morning and play Hawkins' records for THE LESTER YOUNG STORY. Volume 1: me so I could play like he did. I wanted to Jones -Smith and Wilson -Holiday Inc. Lester play my own way, but I just listened. I didn't Young (); Jones -Smith Incor- want to hurt her feelings." porated; and His Orchestra; Young's stay with Henderson lasted only a Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra. Shoe Shine few weeks, and a later job with 's Boy (two takes); Evenin'; Boogie-Woogie; Oh Clouds of Joy lasted just six months, but he Lady Be Good; He Ain't Got Rhythm; This found his niche the following year when he re- Year's Kisses; Why Was I Born?; I Must turned to .In October 1936 Have That Man; Sun Showers; Yours and Young made his recording debut on Colum- Mine; Mean to Me (two takes); Fooling My- bia's Vocalion label with a Basie-led quintet self; Easy Living; I'll Never Be the Same; I've called Jones -Smith Incorporated to avoid a le- Found a New Baby (two takes); Me, Myself gal 'hassle with Decca (they had contracted and I Are All in Love with You (two takes); A with Basie but had not yet recorded him). The Sailboat in the Moonlight; Born to Love; four resulting sides (and a second take of one, Without Your Love (two takes).COLUMBIA ® Shoe Shine Boy) begin the first volume of Collectors CG 33502 two discs $9.98. "The Lester Young Story," Columbia's long- awaited five -part chronological reissue of ev- 'Lester THE LESTER YOUNG STORY. Volume 2: A erything thisextraordinary pacemaker re- Musical Romance. Lester Young ( and corded for that label. Three double albums tenor saxophone); Teddy Wilson and His Or- have been released so far, taking us up to the 6Young chestra; Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra. summer of 1939 and a strange date with a pop Getting Some Fun Out of Life; Who Wants organist named Glenn Hardman. The session Love?; Travelin' All Alone; He's Funny That was Columbia's attempt to cash in on Decca's Way; My First Impression of You (two takes); success with pioneer Hammond organist Milt Many of the cuts in this volume have, of When You're Smiling (two takes); I Can't Be- Herth, and the records may well have failed course, been reissued under Billie Holiday's lieve That You're in Love with Me (two takes); to achieve that goal for the very same reason name, but they are worth repeating, and pro- If Dreams Come True (two takes); Honey- that we are able to enjoy them today: Young's ducer Michael Brooks has included a good suckle Rose; Now They Call It Swing (two surgingtenortotallyignores Hardman's number of worthwhile alternate takes. Alter- takes); Back in Your Own Backyard (two chomping,slitheringmovie -houseorgan, nate takes are mostly of value to the collector takes); When a Woman Loves a Man; The forging the familiar melodies of China Boy or student for whom even the slightest varia- Very Thought of You; I Can't Get Started and Exactly Like You into shapes that would tion may have significance, and I have always (two takes); You Can't Be Mine. COLUMBIA hardly have pleased Milt Herth's followers. been against making reissues that ignore the CdCG 34837 two discs $9.98. majority of consumers who fall into neither IN between these two odd sessions lies a category. But for the most part there are suffi- THE LESTER YOUNG STORY. Volume 3: wealth of outstanding small- and big -band cient differences here in the alternate solos to Enter the Count. Lester Young (clarinet and swing music featuring some of the most re- pardon their inclusion. tenor saxophone); Teddy Wilson and His Or- vered musicians and singers of the Thirties Aside from the Glenn Hardman session and chestra; Basie's Bad Boys; Count Basie and and Forties. It was an era when jazz greats four more Wilson/Holiday sides, the third His Orchestra; Glenn Hardman and His Ham- did not necessarily front their own bands, yet volume of "The Lester Young Story" con- mond Five. Everybody's Laughing; Here It Is they often participated in informal studio ses- centrates on the tenor man's work with Count Tomorrow Again; Say It with a Kiss; I Ain't sions that produced some of the most endur- Basie,includingahaphazardlyarranged Got Nobody; Going to Chicago; Live and ing music in the history of recorded jazz. small -band session that took place only nine Love Tonight; Love Me or Leave Me; What Such small -band dates, made under the lead- days after Basie left Decca (it was first re- Goes Up Must Come Down (two takes); Taxi ership of Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday, leased six years ago as part of the Basie col- War Dance (two takes); Don't Worry 'Bout complete Volume 1 of this set. The first of lection "Super Chief," Columbia G 31224). Me (two takes); And the Angels Sing; If I these dates, a Wilson session that included Just as Basie left Decca, his band suffered the Didn't Care; Twelfth Street Rag; Miss Thing; Benny Goodman, Buck Clayton, and the death of tenor saxophonist . Lonesome Miss Pretty; Bolero at the Savoy; soon -to -be -famous Count Basie rhythm sec- To Young it was a very personal loss, for the Pound Cake; You Can Count on Me (two tion, was recorded in January 1937, just four two tenor men had been kindred spirits who takes); China Boy; Exactly Like You (two days after the Basie band began making its sparked the band's performances and many takes).COLUMBIA CG 34840 two discs classic series of recordings for Decca. after-hours sessions as well. I don't think any $9.98.

134 STEREO REVIEW