Customer Reviews

The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're seriously into Lester Young, you must, of course, own this set. But, while the first five discs will give you many hours of unalloyed joy, there is a scary, deepening sadness that comes with the final three. These are the last days of Lester, and beginning about halfway through disc six, you can hear the magic leaving him. From then on, he seems to shrink, suddenly losing all sense of the beat, sometimes playing only a few wayward notes, inept as any amateur on the instrument. By the time you hit the last Paris sessions of 1959, it is painful to listen to. What makes it even worse is the occasional flash, like dying lightning, of the old genius. You find yourself wondering what on earth prompted someone to record these last sessions. The collection includes two interviews with Young, which every fan must hear, and a great little book. And as I said at the outset, through most of this collection, the magic is still there. But you won't often revisit those last discs . . . unless you're the kind of person who likes looking at car wrecks.

An 8-CD box set is a major investment for most people, but without a doubt this set is worth every penny. After recording for mainly Savoy and Aladdin for a few years after the war, Lester signed on with Norman Granz's Verve label (Clef/Norgran/Verve) and remained with the label for the last ten years of his life. Lester's entire recording career going back to the Basie days spanned only about 23 years, so this box set gathers almost half (time-wise) of Pres's recorded output.

It's an exhilarating compilation of music, and captures some of Lester's finest post-war performances on the earlier discs, while tracing his gradual at first, and then very sudden, decline in power as his health became poor. The first 3 discs are virtually flawless, with one gem after another flowing from Young's tenor. Beginning with the famous trio date with Nat Cole and Buddy Rich that produced the masterpieces BACK TO THE LAND and I WANT TO BE HAPPY (though the sound here and on every CD issue of this date I've listened to isn't as good as the LP re-issue from the 1970s) and continuing with lengthy sessions with Hank Jones, John Lewis, and Oscar Peterson, the music remains at a very high level. THREE LITTLE WORDS, IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOU, NEENAH,, JEEPERS CREEPERS, AD LIB BLUES, a gorgeous STAR DUST, among many others all capture Pres laying down unforgettable jazz performances.

In the early '50s he established a working band that included Jesse Drakes on trumpet, and quite a few sessions feature this group. And as the decade continued he also recorded with Sweets Edison and Roy Eldridge. By 1956, however, Lester's health began to suffer, and so did his recordings. Some of his last albums (GOING FOR MYSELF, IN PARIS) are painful to listen to (only because earlier efforts were so outstanding), but even here Pres can at times rise to the occasion (the tune PRES RETURNS is brilliant).

Lester Young was one of the giants in jazz and anyone interested in the music must hear the wonderful things this man created. A ridiculous argument has gone on for years in jazz circles that all of Lester's worthwhile recordings were made with Basie prior to the war and that his army experience ruined him with nothing of musical value coming after that - ridiculous, as I said. This box set will hopefully put that argument to rest. There are many, many brilliant recordings here, and these 8-CDs go far in providing us with an honest picture of a genius, in good times and bad. The packaging is very handsome and there's a 100-page booklet, informative and interesting, included. I have very BIG EYES for this set. A must-have CD set in my book.

To say that Lester Young's best work was complete by the early 40's is ridiculous. This is a statement made by a person who clearly knows the subject very little. Mr. Pekar probably read a few reviews and then decided to write his own - without examining the body of work. Dimwit!

Now, is this the best Lester Young available? Absolutely not. But what you're getting here is STUDIO SESSIONS. Lester made several very fine studio sessions in the 50's but his best work from the 50's - and, some of Lester's BEST WORK - are the live performances that we're so fortunate to have record of.

In this set you get the Studio Sessions - many of them being very fine sets. Listen to the Lester Young TRIO set and you'll hear something marvelous. Some of these studio sessions, however, are lackluster. Lester was known in the 50's to have his "set list" of songs. Having no permanent backing group, Lester played with mostly pickup groups and so we have countless versions of "Polka Dots and Moonbeams", "Indiana", etc. Don't you imagine that Lester was tired of these same old songs played in the studio each time that he was to record? Of course he was. Thus we hear boredom, then depression and finally hopelessness as his body began to rapidly deteriorate (and quite possibly his mind as well).

If one chooses to listen to the Lester Young in Washington CD's (1956) or some of the later (admittedly, selected) live performances then one will hear that Lester still had vitality, inventiveness and swing in his playing until darned near the end of his life. So for Harvy Pekar to say that Lester was "done" after the early 40's is a load of bull-butter. Pekar knows not of what he speaks.

This set is for those who want to hear the STUDIO work of Lester - which is somewhat depressing towards the end. Lester had given up on STUDIO work - and in the later period ('57 and on) he pretty much gave up on life. The latter studio sessions show this. However, there is beauty in the economy and unfortunately, beauty in hearing Lester pour his grief into these sessions. It is written that many tears from his fellow musicians were generated from working these sessions and listening to the hopelessness and loneliness that Lester experienced, put through his instrument on these sides.

So yes - this set is what it is. We're better for it (as Lester fans) and yes, there is a lot of depression on the last studio sides. But what we have to do in addressing Harvy Pekar's misgivings is to understand that Lester was capable and DID produce many good to very good live performances during this time.

Lester's possible apex was the Aladdin Sessions. For anyone with ears, it's simple to hear that Lester was vital and original until the end. Listen to the body of work before making such general judgements, "Harv". This is Lester Young - not Ace Cannon.

4 Star rating for the Lester Young Fan

2 Star rating for those looking for an introduction to Lester Young

1 Star rating for those looking for Ace Cannon

For those who are interested, pick up a used copy of:

You Just Fight for Your Life: The Story of Lester Young by Frank Buchmann-Moller

This is THE definitive Lester Young reader and I've read them all.

This set is a thing of beauty. The music swings and is full of blues and ballads by a man who could tell a story. The critera Prez was after was beauty and his playing is all that. You get the six classics albums on verve (see below) plus others and two interviews, and a 140 page booklet. The sound is great and the guests are a whos who of great jazz. As far as the very last cd and Prez's playing-well give the man a break-he just got out of the hospital, but the backup band more than make up for it. The Oscar Peterson session is wonderful but is not "all you need"-if you like pure swinging beautiful music here you go. don't listen to critics-listen to the music. Prez was critisized when he didn't sound like Coleman Hawkins and now is critisized for not sounding like he did when he played with Count Basie-this is addressed during one of the interviews. He didn't want to sound like he did with basie-here he is featured at his best. A desert island set for sure.

Young's soloing is so much more interesting on these mainly 50's studio recordings compared to his earlier pre-war stuff - more ambitious, like a musical explorer: especially on discs 6 and 7 he really gets radical soloing over the extremely corny sounding rhythm section, playing in ballad mode over the vanilla chika-boom beat.

Sweets Edison at times also gets a little expressive and radical with the beat (and his tone) - inspired I suspect by The Master.

Just don't expect sophisticated group interplay - concentrate on Young (and Sweets).
You will then be rewarded by a feast of beauty that I predict will give you comfort and restoreth your soul.

P.S. I bought mine recently on eBay for $100 used with discs in mint condition.

Avoid this set; instead, buy the wonderful "Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio". Everything on the Oscar Peterson disk is in this box set. Added to that are at least two disks of late-career material that is painful to listen to; it's incredible how badly he played in his last years. The last disk is mostly interviews which are awful. The questions are elementary and uninteresting ("When did you write 'Lester Leaps in'?"), and the replies are rambling, often incoherent. In the other material, there is certainly some nice stuff; even on the later cuts, Harry Edison almost saves the day with his beautiful playing. But in the end, spend [some money] for the Oscar Peterson disk, and you'll have all you need.

I've always been more of a Miles fan, but since hearing a few tracks of 'The Prez', I took the plunge and bought this set.

I'm happy to say that I have it on a good deal. It's fantastic background music, and I'm glad I didn't just buy one or two of his disks.

There's also a huge book with it (84 pages maybe?) That has a complete biography, as well as a list of Jazz terms he has been credited with coining. (Though crediting him with some of them might be a little far fetched) As Mose Allison tells us....

"Sold all my Basie with Lester

I ain't got nothing but the Blues"

You won't be sorry.