[ad_1]
Jazz scholar Mike Zirpolo’s weblog Swing and Past is an introduction to Prez, and to his first breakthrough recording, “Woman Be Good.”
”Woman, Be Good” (1936) Lester Younger and Depend Basie
Lester Willis Younger, probably the most influential musicians within the historical past of jazz, was born on August 27, 1909, in Woodville, Mississippi. After a prolonged apprenticeship spent in quite a few black territory bands within the Midwest, Younger discovered to learn music at sight, achieved full management of the devices he performed (which by then have been tenor sax and clarinet), and developed some terribly authentic jazz concepts. By the early Nineteen Thirties, he had grown to 6 ft one. His peak and the mix of his mild pores and skin, penetrating inexperienced eyes, and tiny ft (dimension seven), made him a hanging particular person. He additionally had begun to build up a lot of private eccentricities that solely heightened his individuality. His gown, method of speech, and humor have been exceedingly totally different, even within the considerably unorthodox world of dance band musicians. However it was in his music that Lester Younger was most particular person.
His skilled exercise within the early Nineteen Thirties was steady, although hardly excessive profile. The low level (regardless of the excessive hopes of everybody involved), got here when he was employed by Fletcher Henderson within the spring of 1934, changing Coleman Hawkins, whose stentorian tenor saxophone stylings had been a distinguished characteristic of Henderson’s band for years. Younger’s complete strategy to the tenor saxophone was antithetical to Hawkins’s. It seems that Henderson and his band weren’t ready for this large change, consequently, Younger’s employment with Henderson was brief lived and exasperating. (Lester requested a letter from Henderson stating that he had not been fired for musical inadequacy, which Henderson gladly supplied to him. Younger’s taking part in merely didn’t match into the Henderson band’s type.)
Extremely, despite the fact that Younger had been knowledgeable musician since roughly 1923, he didn’t make his first report till the autumn of 1936. His taking part in on the recording of “Woman Be Good” (ARC/Vocalion on November 9, 1936), with a small group of musicians from Depend Basie’s earliest band, can solely be described as astonishing. Younger’s strategy to jazz, which for my part was an extension in some ways (principally rhythmic) of what Bix Beiderbecke had began, was the primary full-scale different to the strategy developed by Louis Armstrong. His tenor saxophone sound was additionally fairly totally different from that utilized by all others then.
Give a hearken to “Woman Be Good.”
The opposite recording from that session that assured a shift in tenor sax historical past was “Shoeshine Boy.” Alan Goodman at Mosaic Information describes this recording as “A set whose contents rank among the many most influential recordings in historical past.”
It was an period when the music was in transition; a time when musicians have been attaining new milestones of non-public expression; a degree in his profession when Depend Basie, with Lester Younger and others beside him, was establishing his credentials as one of many main band leaders of the swing period; and the second when Lester Younger was creating a very new strategy to the tenor saxophone. With out reservation, we will guarantee you these are masterpieces.
…
Younger was absolutely able to attaining a bit sound on ensemble items, however as a soloist he selected to face other than his fellow musicians. It was a stance that helped make him onerous to chop. His solos launched ideas that have been revolutionary for his or her melodic content material, their rhythmic complexities, and the very approach he articulated the notes, typically creating sounds nobody had heard earlier than.
I discover it distressing that there aren’t a number of accessible documentaries on Younger’s life, physique of labor, and influence on jazz. There’s one which was made in 1988 by Bruce Fredericksen entitled Track of the Spirit.
Uncommon movie of Prez, together with on-camera interviews with the likes of Bobby Scott, Jo Jones, John Hammond, John Lewis, Buster Smith, Dizzy Gillespie, Connie Kay, mates and relations, convey the elusive legend of Prez to life
I discovered it chopped into six segments on YouTube. The audio and video aren’t superb; nevertheless, I encourage you to look at your entire movie as a result of it is extremely thorough, and musicians who labored with him and his daughter Beverly Younger present useful insights on his life and music.
Track of the Spirit
Half 2
Half 3
Half 4
Half 5
Half 6
There’s one other documentary about Pres that has been within the works for fairly a while. Filmmaker Henry Ferrini is piecing it collectively and fundraising as he goes alongside. Right here’s a preview trailer:
President of Magnificence: The Life and Occasions of Lester Younger
There isn’t a scarcity of wonderful biographies, and a type of biographers is Dr. Douglas Daniels, creator of “Lester Leaps In: The Life and Occasions of Lester Pres Younger.”
He was jazz’s first hipster. He carried out in sun shades and coined and popularized phrases like “that is cool” and “you dig?” He at all times wore a swimsuit and his trademark porkpie hat. He influenced everybody from B. B. King to Stan Getz to Allen Ginsberg, making a lyrical type of taking part in that endlessly modified the sound of the tenor saxophone.
On this groundbreaking biography of Lester Younger (1909-1959), historian Douglas Daniels brings to life the person and his world, and corrects a lot of misconceptions. Despite the fact that others have recognized Younger as a Kansas Metropolis musician, Daniels traces his roots to the blues of Louisiana and his early years touring along with his father’s band and the legendary Oklahoma Metropolis Blue Devils. Later we see the jazz tradition of New York within the early Nineteen Forties, when Younger was launched to nationwide and worldwide fame with the Depend Basie Orchestra and started to accompany his shut good friend Billie Vacation. After a 12 months spent in an Military jail on a conviction for marijuana use, Younger made modifications in his music however by no means misplaced his sensitivity or soul.
Daniels’ informative 2008 one-hour lecture is nicely price listening to.
Biographer Douglas Daniels discusses his groundbreaking biography of Lester Younger, the legendary tenor saxophonist whose profession spanned swing and bebop eras.
A lot ado has been made over time concerning the relationship between Younger and Billie Vacation. James Maycock explored it on this story for The Guardian.
Billie Vacation and Lester Younger: the intimate friendship between Woman Day and Prez
The intensely intimate however completely platonic relationship that developed between Younger and Vacation from 1934 was publicly recognised throughout their lifetime. Aishah Rahman’s musical Fortunate Day additionally targeted on the non-public and musical affinity that existed between the 2. And simply final 12 months, the Afro-American poet Kamau Daaoud recorded Balm of Gilead (for Billie Vacation and Lester Younger) for his album Leimert Park.
At this time Daaoud explains that “their friendship arose from this frequent understanding of the character of the world that they lived, and the character of the ache they needed to wrestle by to do what they needed to do”. Certainly, their gradual bodily and psychological disintegration from the mid-Nineteen Forties onwards was uncannily comparable as they wrestled with their respective addictions, racist abuse and their distinctive character traits.
Right here’s Daaoud’s poem:
Balm of Giliad
she graced him with the title of Prez
he topped her Woman Day
they stand collectively on the stage
these cousins of kinds and songs…
Give Prez and Vacation a spherical of applause for this model of “All of Me,” which is a monitor that wasn’t launched as a result of it was too lengthy to suit on a 78 report!
Woman Day – Vocals. Shad Collins – Trumpet. Eddie Barefield – Clarinet. Les Johnakins – Alto Sax. Prez – Tenor Sax. Eddie Heywood – Piano. John Collins – Guitar. Ted Sturges – Bass. Kenny Clarke – Drums. Recorded New York, twenty first March 1941
Two years earlier than each Younger and Vacation would be part of the ancestors, they did a tv gig collectively.
The picture above was taken at a tv recording session for the 1957 CBS present The Sound of Jazz. I’ve queued up the video to their efficiency. The superb interplay between Vacation and every soloist shouldn’t be missed.
One of the vital compelling performances that Prez was part of was within the 1944 brief movie Jammin’ the Blues.
Videodrome :: Jammin’ The Blues (1944)
Produced beneath the steerage of Verve Information founder, Norman Granz, Jammin’ The Blues was launched on Could fifth, 1944. Granz’s goal was to showcase the highest jazz musicians of the day and make clear the shifting musicality of the style, which had begun transitioning away from the populous swing preparations of massive bands in favor of smaller teams experimenting with rhythm & blues and free type improvisations. Through the forties, a brand new era of musicians would usher in bebop jazz, which might spiderweb into hard-bop, post-bop, and funky jazz. These musical modulations would produce among the most notable information, musicians, and sub-categories of the style. Jammin’ The Blues was shot amidst these seismic modifications, a historic time capsule of American jazz throughout its most prolific period.
It’s no shock that the brief movie was directed by a photographer, Gjon Mili (most notable for his 1943 LIFE cowl story on Lindy Hop), as Jammin’ The Blues is shot as if it’s a collection of images in movement. Any body from the ten-minute-long movie may very well be remoted right into a nonetheless picture that may be as graphic because the one which preceded or proceed it. Coupled with the audio, which showcases jazz legends equivalent to Lester Younger, Pink Callendar, Marlowe Morris, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Sid Catlett, Jo Jones, Barney Kessel, John Simmons, Illinois Jacquet, and Marie Bryant taking part in “Midnight Symphony,” “Sunny Facet Of The Road,” and the title monitor, “Jammin’ The Blues,” it feels extra like a proto music video than a brief movie. Shrouded in deep shadows and lingering cigarette smoke, Jammin’ The Blues captures the intangible coolness of midcentury jazz on each a sonic and aesthetic stage, endlessly timeless and resolutely hip.
I can’t cease watching this.
Buck Clayton, Harry Edison, Illinois Jacquet, Marlowe Morris, Garland Finney, John Simmons, Sidney Catlett, Jo Jones, Pink Callender and Marie Bryant in 1944
Excuse me, pricey readers, for a slight digression. The featured singer within the movie brief is Marie Bryant, who you will not be accustomed to.
A brief documentary on Marie Bryant, probably the most standard Black unique dancers of the late Nineteen Thirties and early Nineteen Forties. She made her movie debut in “The Duke is Tops” in 1938 after touring with Duke Ellington and others. She landed small roles in a number of movies and in addition taught dance for film studios and at varied colleges together with Katherine Dunham’s Dance College the place she met and had turn out to be greatest mates with Lena Horne. Through the years her college students included Marlon Brando, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Vera-Ellen, Cyd Charisse, Ava Gardener, and Mitzi Gaynor. She additionally labored with Fred Astaire’s choreographer, Hermes Pan and served as an assistant to Jack Cole.
I might sit right here all day posting my Prez favorites, and I’m positive you should have yours able to go within the feedback part, so right here’s a full album of the President with the nice Oscar Peterson so that you can take pleasure in.
RELATED STORY: They tickled the ivories and made jazz historical past: Artwork Tatum and Oscar Peterson
I’ll shut as we speak’s story with a tribute written by Charlie Mingus for Prez.
Christopher Regulation at Culturedarm provides the background:
Behind the Track: Charles Mingus – “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”
Charles Mingus wrote ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ as an elegy for the pioneering jazz saxophonist Lester Younger, who died in March 1959, two months previous to the recording periods for what would turn out to be Mingus Ah Um. A darkly elegant ballad with a lone dissonant word stuffed with pathos and ache, it contrasts sharply with the exuberant gospel of ‘Higher Git It In Your Soul’, the monitor which opens the album.
Past music and language, in vogue too Lester Younger stood aside. He was particularly keen on double-breasted pinstripe fits and – whereas next-generation jazzmen like Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk most well-liked the beret – caught resolutely to the pork pie hat, which had originated across the 1830s as headwear for girls with feathers and a curled brim, earlier than Buster Keaton popularised the merchandise for males in a model lower brief and made stiff.
Following Keaton’s success with the pork pie hat within the silent comedies of the Twenties, it regained its curled brim and a few of its peak and had its heyday following the Nice Despair. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright wore a pork pie with an particularly extensive brim, curved and floppy. Then by the early Nineteen Forties the hat had turn out to be a standard accent for the zoot swimsuit, worn by Black People, Filipino People, Italian People, and Mexicans, that includes an extended draped jacket with padded shoulders accompanied by high-waisted, wide-legged trousers with pegged cuffs. The Zoot Swimsuit Riots of 1943 noticed largely Mexican youths attacked in Los Angeles by American servicemen, whose accusations of unpatriotic thuggery barely masked their prevailing racism.
The pork-pie hat would turn out to be Lester Younger’s sartorial signature.
Pleased Pres Day!
Be part of me within the feedback under for extra of our very personal jazz “Prezident’s Day” celebration.
[ad_2]
Source link