Harp & Soul

Lazy Lester | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Alligator Records
• ASIN: B0000009Z3
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,975 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD

In the late 1950s and the first six years of the 1960s, multiinstrumentalist Leslie "Lazy Lester" Johnson helped define the Louisiana "swamp blues" sound of Jay Miller's Excello label. Lester recorded again in the late 1980s, and this set of originals and cover material (hooray for Slim Harpo and James Carr, nix on Bo Diddley and Eddie Boyd) captures all of his distinctiveness: an indolently swinging voice whose tonality belongs to country and western and Cajun music rather than blues, and a plaintive-happy harmonica that suggests Jimmy Reed's without any mimicry. Lester's King Snake sessionsmen are ham-handed in their attempts at conjuring peat bog ambience. (35:24/1988) -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Down-home, mellow good time music! Lazy Lester forever!, January 26, 2003

By 

"lowranger" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harp & Soul (Audio CD)

I'm gonna tell how I feel about this album...I've owned this CD since 1997 but never looked on amazon for any review or other albums by Lazy Lester until now.
I don't have any personal knowledge of any of the musicians or production staff on this project, all my info is just from the liner notes (is that what they're calling the CD version ofthe inside pamphlet these days?)
The artists on this album feature:
Kenny Neal, Guitar on all songs with;
Robert "Town Crier" Thomas or Ernie Lancaster or
Pete Carr, Guitar
Teo Leyasmeyer or Lucky Peterson, Piano
Bob Greenlee, Bass
Floyd Miles or Denny Best, Drums
Fred Reif, Washboard
I got turned on to the song "Bloodstains On The Wall" listening to a local Blues radio show about 10 years ago and I had to buy this CD for just that one song. Lester's version of the song is just about as perfect
as you are gonna find, don't care who does it. He cracks me up on alot of the songs on this CD just because I can hear the humor and irony in his voice. His is a natural voice for all kinds of music and thats what's here on this CD. You get Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man", Boyd's classic "Five Long Years", you get Classic Blues, Cajun, some country, and alittle Rockabilly, something like I imagine would be on the bill at a big shrimp and crawdad feast along some country road down in Louisiana, or maybe in a little dive juke joint late some Saturday night on some dark swamp road.
Put another log on the fire, yell for another cold beer and enjoy Lesters songs," Take Me In Your Arms",
and the" Alligator Shuffle", and "Bye Bye Baby", some goodies he wrote.
Kenny Neal does a class A job on guitar too.

...they all sound [darn] good to me too.
Lester's voice sounds perfect on almost all of the songs here due to his practising by performing professionally since the 50's.
The liner notes give info on Lester's personality also, here's a quote:
"The fans who are meeting Lester for the first time sem to be equally astonished by his terrific harp playing and his wacky sense of humor. In New England, he's been called "a national treasure", in New York, "The High Sherrif of Louisiana", in Atlanta, "A Nut", and in Austin the newspapers wrote "he aint lazy, he's crazy."
You'll hear some people saying, "Chuck Berry, Forever and ever!". I gotta add my cry of "Long live King Lester, as mellow as they come."
please enjoy and thank you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Blues, April 25, 2006

By 

Joseph - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harp & Soul (Audio CD)

Bought this Lazy Lester album down in New Orleans at the Louisiana Music Factory. I like it because it is loose, sloppy and has an easy-going feel. Good job by Lazy Lester. I hope he gets some of the $15 bucks I spent on this.