Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful music from two masters, July 1, 2003
If you're a fan of Lester Young, you'll like this CD. If you're a fan of Oscar Peterson, you'll like this CD. If you a fan of both Lester and Oscar and a fan of great jazz you have GOT to have this CD.
Lester Young is at his smoothest on this 1952 recording. He seems to caress each note, playing with the patience that personifies great musicians. This is not pleasant background music. It is to be savored and enjoyed -- more so with each playing.
The Oscar Peterson Trio is the perfect compliment to Young. Peterson does not accompany Young so much as blend with him. Indeed they are a great combo and the one downer about this CD is the knowledge that Young and Peterson did not team up for more music.
Ray Brown on bass and J.C. Heard on drums are quite good and Barney Kessel has some inspired moments on guitar.
One of my favorite CDs.
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Post-War Pres finds his stride., December 28, 1998
By A Customer
One of the most trite generalizations that you will hear about Lester Young is that he came back from his experience in the army a broken man, and that he never re-gained the glory of his Basie Band days. All I can say to that is that these are the recordings, made in the 50's with the greatest, swingingest Oscar Peterson Trio, that made me fall in love with Lester Young's music. It remains, for me, some of the most important and beautiful jazz ever. By the 1950s, Lester Young had somehow developed a way to express a wide and subtle range of emotions through a unique and highly evolved level of musicianship, that is never cluttered or forced. And amazingly, the text of his swinging sermons come from some of the kitchiest standards in the Jazz canon. Don't be put off by his selection of 'Tea For Two.' As Buck Clayton would say, these guys swing so hard they will swing you into bad health. 'Almost Like Being In Love' is exactly that. Deceptively complex riffs and original melodic improvisation that melted in my heart like an emotional choclate ball. I'm Confessin (That I Love You) will make you forget that Lester is playing the saxophone. You'll think he's whispering the greatest story of un-requited love ever told, directly down your spinal column.
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37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
...for warm saturday nights or cool sunday evenings..., September 10, 2001
...i've been lissening to jazz now for only about 14 years...i started out by buying what i thought was jazz, groups like najee, gerald albright, david sanborn, etc...; those guys are fine musicians in their own right...but, i've learned that there is a difference, somewhat, between "jazzy instrumentation" and "jazz music" if you are really just beginning to explore the core foundations of jazz and you like artists like miles, coltrane, duke ellington and such, then this cd is an excellent addition...the music here is not the straight ahead and take charge, hard edged jazz that many people find hard to get into, but it is laid-back, very enjoyable and still distinctive enough to please most traditional jazz enthusiasts.
other artists worth exploring are sax player ben webster, trumpet player clifford brown and milt jackson on vibes.
...whether this is your first jazz cd or your one thousand and first, this is a great one to have in your collection.
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