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BEING PREZ: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF LESTER YOUNG PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Dave Gelly | 192 pages | 05 Aug 2010 | Oxford University Press | 9780195334777 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom Being Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young PDF Book By the end of a biography that is surely definitive in the true sense, I felt the glow experienced after viewing a sensitive and beautifully-constructed documentary. They lacked preconceptions. In the film Round Midnight , the fictional main character Dale Turner, played by Dexter Gordon, was partly based on Young — incorporating flashback references to his army experiences, and loosely depicting his time in Paris and his return to New York just before his death. Recordings made during this and subsequent periods suggest Young was beginning to make much greater use of a plastic reed, which tended to give his playing a somewhat heavier, breathier tone although still quite smooth compared to that of many other players. He reveals how as a saxophonist--and as major contributor to the Count Basie band--Young created a strong personal voice, a cool modernism, and a new rhythmic flexibility in the freely dancing rhythms of 4-beat swing. This was not the first communication the Draft Board had sent him, but he had taken no notice. In other words, just another quiet, hospitable Southern town. The split came as a terrific surprise to followers of Basie and the band. Young made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March with drummer Kenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate next to nothing and drank heavily. Following these events, Young grew increasingly withdrawn and suspicious, changes in his character reflected in the darkening mood of his music. Skip to content. Table of Contents Preface Preface ix — xi. Live recording of Young and Potts in Washington were issued later. Retrieved October 19, Buy Now. He is also professional saxophonist. His father was a teacher and band leader, and several other relatives performed professionally. Show Hide Table of Contents. Please contact our Customer Service Team if you have any questions. From Satchmo to Miles. Jammin' the Blues 8. The History of Jazz 2 ed. While Hawkins was harmonically sophisticated and much more predictable rhythmically, Young was the opposite, often implying more than he stated and creating speechlike improvisations that were the epitome of cool. Exact matches only. It could be said that with the book running only pages in the Equinox edition that I read , there was plenty of room for more musical discussion, but the recordings Gelly chose make his points well. Back in , when Lester had been under pressure in the Fletcher Henderson band, with Mrs Henderson breathing down his neck in her efforts to turn him into an imitation Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday had tried to cheer him up by assuring him that, one day, people would be copying him. Since it came originally from Denver, Colorado, was now based in Salina, Kansas, and had no known connection with Boston or New England, the reason for its name remains a mystery. Search in excerpt. Young also recorded extensively in the late s for Aladdin Records , where he had made the Cole recordings in and for Savoy , '49 and '50 , some sessions of which included Basie on piano. Young played clarinet as well as tenor in these sessions. In Young settled in Kansas City , where after playing briefly in several bands, he rose to prominence with Count Basie. Gelly reasons that the format of a group led by a solo saxophonist was still new at the time, and Young was testing new waters. Small record labels not bound by union contracts continued to record and he recorded some sessions for Harry Lim's Keynote label in New Atlantis John Swenson. His experience inspired his composition "D. Instead of taking advantage of his fame, he stopped eating in and essentially drank himself to death. In Being Prez , renowned British critic Dave Gelly follows Lester Young through his life in a rapidly changing world, showing how the music of this exceptionally sensitive man was shaped by his experiences. After Young's clarinet was stolen in , he abandoned the instrument until about Old and new fans alike will find illumination in Gelly's first-rate discussion of 'Shoe Shine Boy,' his account of Young's dealings with Fletcher Henderson and Norman Granz, and his description of Young's notorious stint in the army. Recorded on a home recorder. Do be advised that shipments may be delayed due to extra safety precautions implemented at our centers and delays with local shipping carriers. Namespaces Article Talk. Gelly uses all of the publicly available documents to reconstruct what happened to Young while he was an Army private, but even Gelly admits that the full truth may never be known. Young's solo was brilliant, acclaimed by some observers as an unparalleled marvel of economy, phrasing and extraordinarily moving emotion; Nat Hentoff , one of the show's producers, later commented, "Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard Verve , Commodore , Savoy , Pablo , Victor. Early "in person" recordings. New York: Oxford University Press. Being Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young Writer This contract came to an end after Lester had been on board for a couple of weeks and Sears signed up for a long tour under the auspices of the United Services Organisation USO , a partly state-funded voluntary body which provided entertainment for the troops. Racial segregation was rigidly enforced, disputes might be settled with a bullet, and lynchings were not unknown. He made a habit of leaving, working, then going home. His first marriage was to Beatrice Tolliver, in Albuquerque , on 23 February Following these events, Young grew increasingly withdrawn and suspicious, changes in his character reflected in the darkening mood of his music. Young's career after World War II was far more prolific and lucrative than in the pre-war years in terms of recordings made, live performances, and annual income. We may use cookies to collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information for our internal use. Young made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March with drummer Kenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate next to nothing and drank heavily. Straub was inspired by Young's appearance on the CBS-TV show The Sound of Jazz , which he watched repeatedly, wondering how such a genius could have ended up "this present shambles, this human wreckage, hardly able to play at all". While he never abandoned the cane reed, he used the plastic reed a significant share of the time from until the end of his life. New York: Bonanza Books. Old and new fans alike will find illumination in Gelly's first-rate discussion of 'Shoe Shine Boy,' his account of Young's dealings with Fletcher Henderson and Norman Granz, and his description of Young's notorious stint in the army. The work was subsequently adapted for the theater, and was staged in November of that year at the Manhattan Theater Club , New York City , with a four-piece jazz combo led by Dwight Andrews. Gelly discusses several of the Basie and Holiday recordings with minimal jargon. Two decades after his commercial breakthrough, Harry Connick Jr. Search in title. She was also in physical decline, near the end of her career, yet they both gave moving performances. According to jazz critic Leonard Feather , who rode with Holiday in a taxi to Young's funeral, she said after the services, "I'll be the next one to go. Tells the story of the saxophonist who spanned minstrelsy and Miles Davis. In Young settled in Kansas City , where after playing briefly in several bands, he rose to prominence with Count Basie. In so doing, Gelly shows his own modernist stripes: playing only the right noes, embracing contextual space, emphasizing the song above all esle. Lester Young Rev. Lester Willis Young August 27, — March 15, , nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Download as PDF Printable version. Search in posts. By the time he was ten, he had learned the basics of trumpet, violin, and drums, and joined the Young Family Band touring with carnivals and playing in regional cities in the Southwest [6] [2] In his teens he and his father clashed, and he often left home for long periods. Gelly uses all of the publicly available documents to reconstruct what happened to Young while he was an Army private, but even Gelly admits that the full truth may never be known. Inform My Library. Back in , when Lester had been under pressure in the Fletcher Henderson band, with Mrs Henderson breathing down his neck in her efforts to turn him into an imitation Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday had tried to cheer him up by assuring him that, one day, people would be copying him. Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio 2. Young played clarinet as well as tenor in these sessions. I Agree. Knopf , p. As a global organization, we, like many others, recognize the significant threat posed by the coronavirus. With the Count Basie Orchestra. Views Read Edit View history. Our distribution centers are open and orders can be placed online. Wikimedia Commons. He emerged from this treatment improved. Recorded on a home recorder. The reader meets a complicated, vulnerable, gentle individual who was brought up in his father's traveling carnival band.

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