*****Lester Young Corner*****

[brownie]

first, the info from Storyville:

LESTER YOUNG

2 CD’s

You can’t overestimate Lester Young’s importance on the development of modern jazz. His superb melodic gift and logical phrasing and smooth, flowing lines were the inspiration for most of the jazz musicians regardless of instruments born after 1920. (Lester Young born 1909)

As Johnny Griffin said to Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis:

There are five tenor saxophonists that have made the styles we all get our inspiration from: Chu Berry, Don Byas, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. All the tracks on these two CD’s are from the fifties. Three of the sessions are unissued and on one track Oh! Lady Be Good young Miles Davis is on trumpet. It was recorded on a European tour Lester and Miles did in 1956.

CD 1

1. Indiana 7:21

2. A Ghost Of A Chance 3:54

3. How High The Moon 6:28

4. D.B.Blues 3:12

5. Lullaby Of Birdland/Up And At’em 5:36

6. Too Marvellous For Words 5:46

7. Lullaby Of Birdland 1:56

8. Just You, Just Me 6:19

9. It’s Only A Papermoon 8:23

10. Speak 0:59

11. I Cover The Waterfront 3:20

12. Up And At’em 3:15

13. Three little Words 4:24

14. I Cover The Waterfront 2:56

15. D.B.Blues 6:22

Total time 70:18

CD 2

1. Lester’s Mop Mop Blues 5:40

2. Tea For Two 1:36

3. Polka Dots And Moonbeams 3:52

4. Three Little Words 5:55

5. Lester Leaps In 3:16

6. Oh, Lady Be Good 5:31

7. Oh, Lady Be Good 7:14

8. Lester’s Mop Mop Blues 7:54

9. Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid 7:34

10. Lullaby Of Birdland 1:38

11. Lester Leaps In 3:14

12. These Foolish Things 3:35

13. Three little Words 4:40

14. Pennies From Heaven 2:59

15. Polka Dots And Moonbeams 3:39

16. Indiana 4:01

Total time 72:26

CD1

May 19, 1951

Lester Young Quintet

Birdland, New York City

Jesse Drakes t; Lester Young ts; John Lewis p; Gene Ramey; Jo Jones d

1. Indiana (Hanley-MacDonald) 7:23

2. A Ghost Of A Chance (Young-Washington-Crosby) 3:53

3. How High The Moon (Morgan Lewis) 6:28

4. D.B. Blues (Young) 3:13

January 15, 1953

Lester Young Quintet

Birdland, New York City

Jesse Drakes t; Lester Young ts; Horace Silver p; Franklin Skeete b; Lee Abrams d

5. Lullaby Of Birdland (Theme) (George Shearing) / Up ‘N Adam (Young) 5:36

6. Too Marvellous For Words (Whiting-Mercer) 5:48

CD2:

December 8, 1956 (afternoon)

Lester Young with Earl Swope & Bill Potts

Olivia’s Patio Lounge, Washington DC

Earl Swope tb; Lester Young ts; Bill Potts p; Norman Williams b; Jim Lucht d

7. Oh, Lady, Be Good (G. & I. Gershwin) 7:15

8. Blues In G (Up ‘N Adam) (Young) 7:53

9. Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid (Young) 7:34

10. Lullaby of Birdland (George Shearing) 1:36

December 15, 1956

Lester Young

Café Bohemia, New York City

Idrees Sulieman t; Lester Young ts; Sinclair Raney p; Gene Ramey b; Willie Jones d

11. Lester Leaps In (Young) 3:13

12. These Foolish Things (Morrell-Strachey-Link) 3:38

13. Three Little Words (Kalmar-Ruby) 4:41

December 22, 1956

Lester Young Quartet

Café Bohémia, New York City

Lester Young ts; Sinclair Raney p; Gene Ramey b; Willie Jones d

14. Pennies From Heaven (Johnston-Burke) 3:02

15. Polka Dots And Moonbeams (Burke-Van Heusen) 3:44

same, add Idrees Sulieman t

16. Indiana (Hanley-MacDonald) 4:01

------

that's what I can find... it contraditcts, however, brownie's statement, that:

The 7:14 version of 'Lady Be Good' comes from the November 2, 1956 Birdland All Stars concert at the Salle Pleyel in Paris where Miles and Prez were backed by the French rhythm section of René Urtreger, Pierre Michelot and Christian Garros.

And this may all be wrong... I'm just trying to fit my info with the setlist & timings of the Storyville release!

Majesty, something is wrong here.

As far as I can see what you have detailed is for one disc, presumably disc 1.

The statement accompanying the Storyville announcement clearly indicates:

Three of the sessions are unissued and on one track Oh! Lady Be Good young Miles Davis is on trumpet. It was recorded on a European tour Lester and Miles did in 1956.

The 7:14 timing is what the Peter Losin website says!

Now let's try to find out what's on disc 2

[king ubu]

No, the info fits for #1-6 of CD1 and #7-16 of CD2 - this info is taken from that 16CD set, btw.

No idea if it's actually what's on the Storyville. And I wouldn't bet on there being three unissued sessions... much of this was never officially issued outside of that (semi-official?) 16CD set anyway! (Storyville had some bits on their own Lester Young "Masters of Jazz" compilation.)

Anyway, I'll be glad to get the correct detail as soon as someone knows!

It's a pity Storyville doesn't post it on their website, for reference!

[tranemonk]

What 16CD set?

No, the info fits for #1-6 of CD1 and #7-16 of CD2 - this info is taken from that 16CD set, btw.

No idea if it's actually what's on the Storyville. And I wouldn't bet on there being three unissued sessions... much of this was never officially issued outside of that (semi-official?) 16CD set anyway! (Storyville had some bits on their own Lester Young "Masters of Jazz" compilation.)

Anyway, I'll be glad to get the correct detail as soon as someone knows!

It's a pity Storyville doesn't post it on their website, for reference!

[king ubu]

"Lester Young - Live and private recordings in chronological order" (mentioned a few posts further up).

There was an LP version first, Japanese release. Brownie or Jazzbo would know more about it, I'm sure.

[brownie]

"Lester Young - Live and private recordings in chronological order" (mentioned a few posts further up).

There was an LP version first, Japanese release. Brownie or Jazzbo would know more about it, I'm sure.

That 16CD box (on Sound Hills in Japan)...

... originally on a 22LP box (plus a 7inch disc of Lester singing) in Italy. A limited edition of 300 copies!

There was also a Bird Box (22LP) - that was the first one of the series - and a Lady Day Box (22LP)!

[Quasimado]

Brownie writes: "... originally on a 22LP box (plus a 7inch disc of Lester singing) in Italy. A limited edition of 300 copies!"

Lester singing?!!! I've heard about that! I need it! Where is it?

Q

[medjuck]

Brownie writes: "... originally on a 22LP box (plus a 7inch disc of Lester singing) in Italy. A limited edition of 300 copies!"

Lester singing?!!! I've heard about that! I need it! Where is it?

Q

He sings "It Takes Two to Tango" on the Verve set (maybe on a single cd too for all I know.)

[king ubu]

Brownie writes: "... originally on a 22LP box (plus a 7inch disc of Lester singing) in Italy. A limited edition of 300 copies!"

Lester singing?!!! I've heard about that! I need it! Where is it?

Q

He sings "It Takes Two to Tango" on the Verve set (maybe on a single cd too for all I know.)

I think it was on the VME of Lester & Peterson, too - love it!

[jazzbo]

He did a little singing in the band he had with his brother.

I'm going for the new Storyville.

[brownie]

Brownie writes: "... originally on a 22LP box (plus a 7inch disc of Lester singing) in Italy. A limited edition of 300 copies!"

Lester singing?!!! I've heard about that! I need it! Where is it?

Q

He sings 'Just a little bit South of Carolina'. That's from a 1942 broadcast with the Lee and Lester Young's Band (with Jimmy Rowles on piano)! The track was also included on vol. 2 of the Lester Young series from Masters of Jazz!

[brownie]

Recommended to Lester Young on clarinet addicts...

The 2CD is part of the Cabu Jazz Masters series!

Details. (in French only!)

[Ted O'Reilly]

[Tom Cat]

what a player prez, just yesterday i was going mad listening goodbye pork pie hat, mainly the rahsann roland kirk version issued on the return of the 5000 lb man

[AllenLowe]

I like Prez.

[brownie]

He sings 'Just a little bit South of Carolina'.

[bichos]

i just heard the new "storyville" d-cd "lester young 100 years-forever young" with four unissued sessions.

two tracks from birdland 15. april 1953 (lob/up and at´em and too marvellous for words) -the track identification in the liners is wrong!- with his working group (drakes, silver, skeets, kay).

six (in fact five) tracks from storyville, boston 15. december 1953 (lob; just you, just me; papermoon; announcement; waterfront; up and at´em) with drakes, mahones, henry, kay.

three tracks from théatre des arts, paris, 01. november 1956 (3 little words; waterfront; d.b. blues) with urtreger, michelot, garros.

three tracks from kongresshaus zürich, switzerland, 19. november 1956 (moonbeams; 3 little words; lester leaps in) with the same rhythm section as before. the fourth track (lady be good) from this concert is with miles davis and was issued before.

the rest is not new:

birdland, may 19, 1951

birdland, august 15, 1956

olivia´s pato lounge, washington, december 8, 1956 (the four tracks with earl swope)

café bohemia, december 15 and 22, 1956 (missing is the presentation of the musicians´ musician poll award by leonard feather to lester young). it´s mentioned in the liner notes but not on the disc) the only issue of the presentation is (to my knowlegde) the jass-cd "prez conference".

liner notes are by frank büchmann-möller, so i think the dates are correct. it´s only a pity that the library of congress recordings of the lester young jam from dec. 29, 1940 are still unissued.

keep boppin´

marcel

[John L]

Great! Thank you very much for this information, Marcel.

[John L]

With this discographical help, I can download just the previous unknown tracks from iTunes. As I can make out, they constitute tracks 5-15 on disc 1 and 3-5 on disc 2. Right?

[king ubu]

Thanks for the details, Marcel!

Will have to look for this one... though it's a rag-bag, but any new Pres is welcome!

Edit: will be interesting to see if CD1#5-6 are indeed different from these (see post #174 above):

January 15, 1953

Lester Young Quintet

Birdland, New York City

Jesse Drakes t; Lester Young ts; Horace Silver p; Franklin Skeete b; Lee Abrams d

Lullaby Of Birdland (Theme) (George Shearing) / Up ‘N Adam (Young) 5:36

Too Marvellous For Words (Whiting-Mercer) 5:48

Edited June 23, 2010 by king ubu

[John L]

I downloaded and listened to the previously unreleased material. These tracks are quite good, with the 1956 sessions standing out in particular. That is perhaps not surprising, as Pres was in better shape in 1956 than 1953. All in all, this is a nice addition to Lester Young's discography.

I can also verify Ubu's suspicion about the two Birdland tracks listed by Storyville (as reported by Marcel) as unreleased from April 15, 1953. They are indeed identical to the two track released in the Japanese live Pres box that are listed as being from January 15. Given the personnel, that date is most likely correct. There are similar broadcasts of this band from this Birdland gig on January 10th and 17th.

Edited June 23, 2010 by John L

[king ubu]

Thanks for weighing in, John!

Will definitely have to get this disc!

[mmilovan]

Speaking of LOC acetates, and searching them in Library just found this:

LOC

So under #164:

164

Type of Material: Music Sound Recording

Main Title: Jam session. 1940-12-29 [sound recording].

Published/Created: 1940

Description: 1 sound disc (13 min., 54 sec.) : analog, 33 1/3 rpm, mono. ; 16 in.

and under the #165:

165

Type of Material: Music Sound Recording

Main Title: Jam Session [sound recording].

Published/Created: [between 1940 and 1941]

Description: 1 sound disc (9 min., 41 sec.) : analog, 33 1/3 rpm, mono. ; 16 in.

So, it is 20 minutes in total, right?

Edited July 10, 2010 by mmilovan

[bichos]

Speaking of LOC acetates, and searching them in Library just found this:

LOC

So under #164:

164

Type of Material: Music Sound Recording

Main Title: Jam session. 1940-12-29 [sound recording].

Published/Created: 1940

Description: 1 sound disc (13 min., 54 sec.) : analog, 33 1/3 rpm, mono. ; 16 in.

and under the #165:

165

Type of Material: Music Sound Recording

Main Title: Jam Session [sound recording].

Published/Created: [between 1940 and 1941]

Description: 1 sound disc (9 min., 41 sec.) : analog, 33 1/3 rpm, mono. ; 16 in.

So, it is 20 minutes in total, right?

mmilovan, look for post #110 in this topic. there is the information larry appelbaum gave me in 2007.

the jam session was a good filler for the "storyville" d-cd "100 yeaes - forever young". but this was not the case...(i think it has something to do with copyright).

keep boppin´

marcel

[mmilovan]

"So far I've not been contacted by any label and no one has come

down to listen to the discs.

Larry"

Oh, I see...

Edited July 10, 2010 by mmilovan

[John L]

It seems that people ARE interested in releasing the material, but that "copyright" is an issue. In other words, money has to be paid to the holders of the rights to this music. Since this music is in the public domain, and will be reissued and marketed immediately in Europe after its first release, any label that would agree to pay the money would most likely have to take a loss on it. That is the sad truth.

Edited July 11, 2010 by John L