Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Jazz Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 28-JAN-1997

Track Listing

1. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans [Take 2]
2. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
3. Countless Blues
4. Countless Blues [Take 2]
5. Them There Eyes [Take 2]
6. Them There Eyes - Lester Young
7. I Want a Little Girl
8. I Want a Little Girl [Take 2]
9. Pagin' the Devil
10. Pagin' the Devil [Take 2]
11. Three Little Words [Take 2]
12. Three Little Words
13. Jo-Jo - Lester Young
14. I Got Rhythm [Take 3]
15. I Got Rhythm [Take 2]
16. I Got Rhythm
17. Four O'Clock Drag
18. Four O'Clock Drag [Take 3]
19. Laughing at Life - Kansas City Five, Lester Young
20. Good Morning Blues - Kansas City Five, Lester Young
21. I Know That You Know - Kansas City Five, Lester Young
22. Love Me or Leave Me - Kansas City Five, Lester Young

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170918 in Music
• Brand: YOUNG,LESTER
• Released on: 1997-01-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
Though known as the "Kansas City sessions," Milt Gabler taped these proceedings in New York City for his Commodore label. The musicians, however, represented the soul of the Kansas City influx. The first 10 tracks--five tunes with one alternate each--come from September 1938 and feature a group drawn from the Count Basie Orchestra's ranks. It's the great Basie rhythm section of bassist Walter Page, drummer Jo Jones, and rhythm guitarist Freddie Green (who also sings on "Them There Eyes"), with a frontline of Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, and Eddie Durham, who's heard far more prominently on electric guitar than trombone. A master of half-valve smears, Clayton sounds superb, whether elegantly muted or expressively open, but it's Young who will rivet a listener's attention, both on tenor sax or playing clarinet with a strikingly original sound and conception.

Young's clarinet virtually defines the sonority of later "cool" alto saxophonists like Lee Konitz and Paul Desmond, and the blend with the transparent textures of the two guitars is particularly advanced. The second session is by a very different Kansas City Six from 1944, with Young and Jones the only returning members. It's a far more conventional setting, with trumpeter Bill Coleman and trombonist Dicky Wells competing in brashness and pianist Joe Bushkin in place of the guitars. The sometimes aggressive cast to the band only highlights Young's superbly relaxed phrasing. His opening solos on the three takes of "I Got Rhythm" are textbook example of relaxed swing, and their inspiration to Wells is apparent in his solos that follow. The CD concludes with four tracks by the Kansas City Five from March 1938, the earliest session here. It's the first Kansas City Six without Young present, still well worth hearing for the superb play of Clayton, Durham, and the rhythm section. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

magical moments
These are superb recordings by the master musician Lester Young and his Kansas City friends. When Young plays the blues on clarinet he reminds me so much of Billy Holliday - the transition from each note to the next is so full of musical emotion that it gets right inside my soul. The 1938 recordings with the clarinet are a high point in all Jazz - along with the Hot Fives and Sevens, Johnny Hodges small groups from 1939-40 etc. Young's beautiful sensitivity is displayed, along with the members of the group who afford Young the best support one could ask for. The 1944 sessions with Young on Tenor are great and complement the earlier sessions perfectly. I would heartily recommend this CD to any human being.

I'm fascinated with these 5-star ratings here
Hey - there are great moments here - such as Lester playing clarinet, and playing the hell out of it: BUT BUYER BEWARE...the Kansas City Five sessions Do NOT even have Prez on them! That's right. Commodore Records released this as an LP in 1979, and while many tracks are in fact really well recorded, and Buck and Lester, and Freddie play great, many of the tunes are marred by Eddie Durham's totally out-of-place electric guitar "work". That's why there are so many alternate takes - and he never does get them right. How frustrating! "Good Mornin' Blues", "Laughing at Life", "I Know That You Know", and "Love Me or leave Me" are all minus Lester - now that is simply unacceptable when the CD is titled Lester Young. They do include some other tracks not on the original LP...they better, to make up for the lack of Prez on the others. There are some great moments here, but you really need to preview them. Maybe you'll like Eddie durham's quirky playing, but it ruins an otherwise wonderful line-up for me.

not Prez's best
historically important, but not necessarily my favorite; Lester Young recorded much greater music, both with Basie and on his own, later..Buck Clayton is in good form; Jo Jones sounds great, it's good to be reminded how great Walter Page could be; the two takes of
"Pagin' the Devil" are extraordinary. And Freddie Green, of all people, sings, and very nicely. but Eddie Durham's trombone playing is annoying, frankly; though, again, it's extraordinary to hear Durham's electric guitar work, before Charlie Christian got rolling.