Lester Young was one of the great jazz masters, and his impact on the
course of the art form was profound. He fundamentally changed the way
the saxophone was played--his long, flowing lines brought new levels of
expressiveness and subtlety to the jazz language, setting the standard
for all
modern players.
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. The reader meets a complicated,
vulnerable, gentle individual who was brought up in his
father's
traveling carnival band. His early career was spent in the nightclubs
and dancehalls of Kansas City and the Southwest, and he made his
landmark recording debut at the peak of the Swing Era. But at the height
of his powers, he was drafted into the US Army, where racism and his
own
unworldliness landed him in military prison. Following these
events, Young grew increasingly withdrawn and suspicious, changes in his
character reflected in the darkening mood of his music. Gelly, himself a
jazz saxophonist, examines many of Young's classic recordings in
illuminating detail. 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.
With his sax jutting oddly to one
side, his bizarre oblique use of language, and his unique musical
rapport with Billie Holiday (who famously nicknamed him "Prez"), Lester
Young has become an icon and a cult figure. This marvelous biography
illuminates the life and work of this giant of jazz.
Being Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young
Gracias!!!
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