PRES:THE STORY OF LESTER YOUNG [Paperback]

LUC DELANNOY (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1993

The critic Norman Granz called tenor saxophonist Lester Young "the greatest musician I have heard on the instrument." Douglas Ramsey speaks of Young as "the gentle bedeviled genius whose vision of beauty found expression even though he was hounded throughout his life by nearly every demon the twentieth century had managed to spawn." This is his story, told with love and candor. 1994 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Authorship on Musical Subjects

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press (June 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557282641
• ISBN-13: 978-1557282644
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,842,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a meaty book., May 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: PRES:THE STORY OF LESTER YOUNG (Paperback)

Not only is Luc Delannoy's LESTER YOUNG both scholarly and entertaining; it is a fresh, thought-provoking biography, penned with affection, that breaks new grounds. Delannoy is the first jazz historian I know of to show exactly what Lester meant when he'd quiet tell all those early, prying interviewers: "Frankie Trumbauer was my idol." Also, Delannoy has gone to the trouble of studying the transcript of Lester's Army court hearings, which brightens the light we can now shine into the darker corners of that dreadful wartime experience.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A strong biography., May 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: PRES:THE STORY OF LESTER YOUNG (Paperback)

Delannoy's biography brings together most of the information that can be verified about the life of Young and melds it with a poetic appreciation of his importance as an artist and his suffering as a human being. Simply by relating Young's life story, Delannoy leaves no doubt that major emotional crises transformed Pres from a hard working young musician with a sunny outlook into a paranoid who developed his already eccentric behavior and language as defense mechanisms. Delannoy's strenght as a biographer is in making it clear that the gifts left by Young's genius transcend his bedeviled life