![]() ![]() Holiday always insisted their relationship was strictly platonic. At one point Lester moved into the apartment Billie shared with her mother, Sadie Fagan. Billie and Lester met at a Harlem jam session in the early 30s and worked together in the Count Basie band and in nightclubs on New York's 52nd St. Young is described as playing the clarinet in a "liquid, nervous style." As well as the Kansas City Sessions, his clarinet work from 1938–39 is documented on recordings with Basie, Billie Holiday, Basie small groups, and the organist Glenn Hardman. Young played clarinet as well as tenor in these sessions. Although they were recorded in New York (in 1938, with a reunion in 1944), they are named after the group, the Kansas City Seven, and comprised Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, Basie, Young, Freddie Green, Rodney Richardson, and Jo Jones. While with Basie, Young made small-group recordings for Milt Gabler's Commodore Records, The Kansas City Sessions. ![]() ![]() He soon left Henderson to play in the Andy Kirk band (for six months) before returning to Basie. Young left the Basie band to replace Hawkins in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. One of Young's key influences was Frankie Trumbauer, who came to prominence in the 1920s with Paul Whiteman and played the C-melody saxophone (between the alto and tenor in pitch). ![]() His playing in the Basie band was characterized by a relaxed style which contrasted sharply with the more forceful approach of Coleman Hawkins, the dominant tenor sax player of the day. In 1933, Young settled in Kansas City, where after playing briefly in several bands, he rose to prominence with Count Basie. He left home permanently in 1932 when he became a member of the Blue Devils led by Walter Page. He made a habit of leaving, working, then going home. He became a member of the Bostonians, led by Art Bronson, and chose the tenor saxophone over the alto as his primary instrument. Young left the family band in 1927 at the age of 18 because he refused to tour in the Southern United States, where Jim Crow laws were in effect and racial segregation was required in public facilities. His family moved to Minneapolis in 1919 and Young stayed there for much of the 1920s, first picking up the tenor saxophone while living there. In his teens, he and his father clashed, and he often left home for long periods. Young's early musical influences included Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy Dorsey and Frankie Trumbauer. By the time he was ten, he had learned the basics of the trumpet, violin, and drums, and joined the Young Family Band touring with carnivals and playing in regional cities in the Southwest. While growing up in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, he worked from the age of five to make money for the family. His father was a teacher and band leader. Lester had two siblings – a brother, Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irma Cornelia. to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana. Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909. Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Lester Willis Young (Aug– March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.Ĭoming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. ![]()
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