Customer Reviews

Complete Savoy Recordings

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not only do you get some exceptional studio material from Lester Young, but you also get a great set of live tracks recorded in Chicago ("Big Eye Blues" is an awesome slow blues). Don't let the large amount of alternate takes fool you. There were many great players, but Pres was one of those select few who could come up with something completely new from one take to the next, and Lester's ability to say so much with so few notes is unsurpassed. Lester can say more with a chorus or two than most sax players could with fifteen. It's not hard to understand why Charlie Parker studied Lester's recordings.

recorded in 1944, 1949 and in 1950 this 2 CD set of the Savoy sessions boasts 20 bit sound and is a treat from a giant whose "sweet" swinging style, is often considered ethereal.
There are many Lester Young compilations out there and focusing on these Savoy sides with all the takes features him as a leader of his own group/small band,key soloist as well as dates with his "boss" Count Basie and other great magicians of the day.
Disc ones sides include Johnny Guarnieri All Star Orchestra 1944, and the Earl Warren Orchestra 1944,and Lester Young's Quintet 1944.
Disc two includes Lester Young's Sextet 1949 and Quintet sides live in Chicago 1950.
<A great deal looking at all the used copies on sale here.

Lester Young is my favorite sax, so my review is highly biased - it's fantastic. The only problem is that the tracks on Disc 1 have a hitch in the order - "Empty Hearted" actually appears in Track #20, not #13, shifting all listed tracks, 14 - 20, by one, to 13 - 19.

Jazz musicians should have more respect for their audience(They say that the average-turned-genius Miles Davis even performed once with his back towards the audience). If they don't have enough material to cut a record they should wait until they get it and NOT flood us with alternate takes (some records even have false starts as an independent
groove!). Such is the case here. It's a boring CD with a lot of repetition. It's not enough that we have to put up with a tenor that doesn't sound like a tenor; we must suffer through these nauseating alternate takes.