Lester Young

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(b Woodville, ms, 27 Aug 1909; d New York , 15 March 1959 ).American jazz tenor saxophonist. He played in various bands but his most important association was with Count Basie's (1934-44 with interruptions). After a traumatic period in the army (1944-5) he worked mostly freelance with small ensembles. Unlike previous saxophonists, he used a light tone, almost without vibrato, concentrating on clarity and understatement. The most original jazz improviser between Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, he had a lasting influence on later jazz musicians.

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The American musician Lester Willis ("Prez") Young (1909-1959) was one of jazz's premier stylists, a startlingly innovative tenor saxophonist whose approach was marked by finesse and relaxation rather than power and passion.

On and off the bandstand, Lester "Prez" (for "President") Young was unique. His musical genius is well documented on recordings, but his eccentricities of speech and attire survive only in anecdotes and photographs and in the memory of those who knew him. Many jazz slang locutions, whose origins have since been obscured, were coined by Young (for example, "I feel a draft" for "I sense hostility"); his wide-brimmed porkpie hat was one of several sartorial trademarks, paralleled by such linguistic oddities as his habit of addressing everyone, man or woman, as "Lady" - followed by the person's last name. (Count Basie, then, would become "Lady Basie.") Unfortunately, this buoyant, creative genius was traumatized, and ultimately destroyed, by his experiences during World War II.

The eldest of three children, Lester Willis Young was born on August 27, 1909, in Woodville, Mississippi, and shortly after his birth the family moved to Algiers, Louisiana, just across the river from New Orleans. The father, Willis H. Young, who had studied at Tuskegee Institute, musically tutored Lester, Lester's brother Lee (later a professional jazz drummer), and their sister Irma. Lester was taught trumpet, alto saxophone, violin, and drums.

Young's parents divorced in 1919, and the father moved with the children to Minneapolis in 1920; there he married a woman saxophonist and formed a family band, in which Young played alto sax and drums as the band toured the larger Midwestern cities. But Young, unwilling to tour the South, left the band in 1927. For the next five years he worked with a variety of Midwestern bands, including the Original Blue Devils and King Oliver's Band. In 1934 he replaced Coleman Hawkins, the reigning tenor saxophone king, with the famous Fletcher Henderson band, but his lightness of tone on the instrument was ridiculed as "wrong" by the band's other musicians, and after a few months the sensitive Young quit the band.

Joins Count Basie Band

In 1936 Young petitioned Count Basie for a place in his band and was hired; his early recordings with a small Basie unit as well as with the full orchestra provided Lester with solo spots on "Lady Be Good," "Shoe Shine Boy," and "Taxi War Dance" and heralded the arrival of a distinctively new instrumental voice. The band's other superb tenor saxophonist, Herschel Evans, had a heavier, Coleman Hawkins-influenced approach to the instrument, and the contrast produced a friendly rivalry between the two that generated tremendous excitement for audience and record buyers. Evans' death (of heart disease) in 1939 depressed Young severely and was an important reason for his leaving Basie in 1940.

For the next several years Young worked as a "single," playing on both coasts but living chiefly in California. He was now a star, but was drinking heavily and his morale was low, a condition that was ameliorated in 1944 by his rejoining Basie's band. Shortly thereafter, however, he was ambushed one night by an FBI man posing as a jazz fan, who arranged an Army induction for Young on the following day. He was immediately inducted despite his obvious unsuitability for military service: he was a chronic alcoholic and a long-time marijuana smoker, was pathologically afraid of needles, and had tested positive for syphilis.

Stationed in Alabama, he was plagued by racism, and he was not allowed to play music (his horn was confiscated), which exacerbated his need for alcohol and narcotic pills. Shortly into his service, pills were found in his possession, and a court-martial resulted in dishonorable discharge, but the Alabama military court prolonged his agony by committing him to a year of hard labor at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

The profound effects of this disastrous experience were not immediately apparent. Young returned to civilian life in the midst of a jazz revolution called bebop; he participated in Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP), a concert tour that mixed the young rebels with the Old Guard players, and Young fared better at these concerts than his great rival Coleman Hawkins. His style was more adaptive to the new harmonics - in fact, he had been a primary inspiration for the new music. The sadness that had begun to enter Young's playing, however, is evident on a 1952 recording session with the Oscar Peterson Quartet, although his melodic inventiveness compensates somewhat for the loss of power.

Further signs of a crushed spirit gradually emerged, and the 1950s was not a productive decade for Young. Symbolic of the decline, perhaps, was the quirky angle at which Young held his horn while playing: earlier it had been a 45 degree angle, but by the 1950s the rakish tilt had vanished. Always a shy, sensitive man, Young was unable to rebound from the brutal humiliation officialdom had inflicted upon him; his playing in those final years, despite bursts of brilliance, seemed to lack conviction and grew increasingly mechanical and spiritless.

In the last dozen years of his life Young had long spells of poor health, undergoing hospital treatment on four separate occasions - in 1947, in 1955, in 1957, and in 1958. Finally, that year, he moved into New York's Alvin Hotel, leaving his wife and son in their home in Queens, New York. A day after returning from a one-month Paris engagement, on March 15, 1959, he died at the hotel of a heart attack brought on by esophageal varicosity and severe internal bleeding.

The Young Music

When Young arrived on the major jazz scene in the mid-1930s the commanding presence of Coleman Hawkins dictated tenor saxophone style. Hawkins played with fierce intensity, investing every chorus (virtually every bar) with power and passion - the quintessential romantic. Young, on the other hand, was all light and air, velvety of tone, buoyantly disregarding bar lines, floating the rhythm effortlessly, attacking the melody obliquely, subtly rather than head-on. The difference between the two sensibilities is voluminously documented, but nowhere more clearly than on the original 1937 recording of Basie's theme, "One O'Clock Jump," on which Herschel Evans, a Hawkins disciple, leads off with a thrilling, hard-edged chorus and Lester later responds with an equally thrilling, marshmallow-toned solo. Thus was the Hawkins monolith toppled and replaced by the twin towers of Hawkins and Young - the two essential styles of jazz performance, hot and cool.

Examples of Young's genius abound. One of the earliest was a 1935 series of Billie Holiday sessions on which she's accompanied by a Teddy Wilson-led unit; it remains a classic record date, not only for Billie's excellence and the uniformly high quality of the musicianship, but also for the extraordinary musical understanding between Young and Billie, a model of symbiosis. The two sustained a 25-year friendship (she labeled him "the President" or "Prez"; he dubbed her "Lady Day" - nicknames that have endured), and ironically they died the same year.

From 1935 to 1946 Young was unfailingly at the top of his form; among his many sterling features with Basie were "Louisiana," "Easy Does It," "Every Tub," "Broadway," "Lester Leaps in," "Jumpin' at the Woodside," "Dickie's Dream," "I Never Knew," and his own composition, "Tickle Toe." His excellent work on clarinet, in evidence on a number of small Basie units (the Kansas City 5), can also be heard in the big band context of Basie's classic "Blue and Sentimental." Even more noteworthy were his small group tenor saxophone outings of the early-mid-1940s, because those smaller units allowed more "stretching out" (that is, longer solos); a 1942 trio session with pianist Nat Cole and bassist Red Callender produced masterful versions of "Tea for Two," "Indiana," "I Can't Get Started," and the ballad apotheosized by Coleman Hawkins, "Body and Soul." Lester Young: The Complete Savoy Recordings includes perhaps a half dozen masterpieces: "Blue Lester," "These Foolish Things," and two versions each of "Indiana" and "Ghost of a Chance." A 1945 session with trombonist Vic Dickenson and a rhythm section anchored by pianist Dodo Marmarosa has two astounding tracks, " D.B. Blues" and another version of "These Foolish Things." Young's greatest recorded live performance is probably the 1946 JATP concert, at which he was co-featured with bebop genius Charlie Parker; his long solos on "Lady Be Good" and "After You've Gone" are a perfect meld of high excitement and artistic integrity.

In the 1970s some West Coast jazzmen formed a midsized band (variably eight or nine pieces) called Prez Conference, the sole purpose of which was to perform in full ensemble transcriptions of Young's great solos. His legacy is further perpetuated by WKCR, Columbia University's FM radio station, which every Presidents' Day weekend plays exclusively the music of Lester "President" Young.

Further Reading

There are many good articles on Lester Young, but none better than pianist Bobby Scott's insightful "The House in the Heart" in Gene Lees' Jazzletter (September 1983). There are a number of biographies, American and European: Luc Delannoy's Lester Young. Profession: Président (Paris:1987); Vittorio Franchini's Lester Young (Milan: 1961); Dave Gelly's Lester Young (England: 1984); Lewis Porter's Lester Young (1985); and probably the most definitive, Frank Buchmann Moller's You Just Fight for Your Life: The Story of Lester Young (1990, translated from the Danish by John Irons). John Clellon Holmes' 1959 novel The Horn, a fictionalized biography of Lester in his last years, offers an intimate and moving look at a man in despair.

Additional Sources

Delannoy, Luc, Pres: the story of Lester Young, Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1993.

Gelly, Dave, Lester Young, Tunbridge Wells: Spellmount; New York: Hippocrene Books, 1984.

Porter, Lewis, Lester Young, Boston, Mass.: Twayne Publishers, 1985.

jazz musician; saxophonist

Personal Information

Born on August 27, 1909, in Woodville, MS; died on March 15, 1959 in New York , NY; son of Willis Handy (a bandleader) and Lizetta; married first wife, Beatrice (marriage ended); lived with common law spouse, Mary, 1937-46; married second wife, also named Mary, 1948; children: Lester, Jr., Yvette
Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Army, 1944-45.

Career

Jazz saxophonist. Played with family band, 1919-27; toured with Art Bronson's Bostonians and other bands, 1928-34; joined Count Basie Orchestra, and then played with groups led by Fletcher Henderson and Andy Kirk; tenor saxophonist for Count Basie, 1936-40; played with brother Lee in Los Angeles, 1941; guest soloist for bands in New York City, 1941-44; recorded Jumpin' With Symphony Sid, 1947; performed at Charlie Parker's Birdland club, 1949 and 1951-54; toured United States and Europe 1952-57.

Life's Work

Lester Young, nicknamed "Pres" by legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday was, in his time, the undisputed president of the tenor saxophone. Saxophone became a prominent jazz instrument during the swing era, and Young developed a light and airy sound that was in direct contrast to what his peers--namely Coleman Hawkins--were playing around him. He played with some of the greats of the swing era, most notably Count Basie, with whom he shared some of his peak years as a performer. Though he came up in mainstream swing orchestras, Young was a pioneer as former swing band members splintered off to explore jazz as a more "self conscious" and cutting-edge art form, according to David Perry in Jazz Greats. Young was the first to adopt jazz as a manifestation of "an underground Bohemianism which would always be in conflict with the status quo," he wrote.

Lester Willis Young was the first of three children of Willis Handy Young, a bandleader, and Lizetta Young. He was born August 27, 1909, in Woodville, Mississippi, but moved with his family to Algiers, Louisiana, near New Orleans, when he was an infant. Willis Young, known as Billy, who had studied at the Tuskegee Institute, led the Billy Young Orchestra and played many instruments but focused on the trumpet. Lizetta Young played the piano. Willis Young passed his musical talents down to his children. He was a stern music teacher to Lester, Lester's brother Lee, and sister Irma, and quickly disciplined the children with his leather strap when his musical standards were not met. This strict musical education is thought to have inspired rebellion and a desire for spontaneity in Lester Young. The Young children were taught to sing as soon as they could speak, and were started on their first instruments at age five. Lester was taught to play trumpet, alto saxophone, violin, and drums. Lee Young later became a professional drummer.

Stern Lessons Engendered Young's Spontaneity

Following his parents divorce in 1919, Young moved with his father and siblings to Minneapolis, where his father remarried a woman saxophone player. The new family formed a traveling band in which Young first played drums, but he switched to alto saxophone--a much less cumbersome instrument to carry around -- at age 13. "Quit them because I got tired of packing them up," Young said in an interview reprinted in Down Beat. "I'd take a look at the girls after the show, and before I'd get the drums packed, they'd all be gone." Lee, Willis Young's favored and dutiful son, replaced him on drums. After touring throughout the Midwest with his family, Young--who refused to tour in the South because of racism there--quit the band in 1927. He did not play in the South until he toured there with Count Basie some years later, but "it was different then," he is quoted as saying in Down Beat. Though Lester's musical career eclipsed that of his brother, Lee, Willis Young forever saw Lee as the success in the family and Lester as "merely mercurial, a troubling and puzzling nomad," according to David Perry in Jazz Greats. Young would suffer from his father's rejection until his death. Young has cited saxophonists Frankie Trumbauer and Jimmy Dorsey as influences.

Over the next five years, Young played with numerous bands and began playing first baritone sax, then tenor. Frank Hines, Eugene Schuck, Eddie Barefield, and Boyd Atkins are among the many groups he played with during this time. He was playing with Art Bronson and the Bostonians when he made the switch to tenor. "I was playing the baritone and it was weighing me down," he said in Down Beat. "I'm real lazy, you know. So when the tenor man left, I took over his instrument." He also played with the Original Blue Devils--the most innovative band in the area at the time--which was led by Count Basie and included such up-and-comers as Walter Page, Eddie Durham, and Jimmy Rushing. He moved to Kansas City after the Blue Devils went broke in 1933, and played there with Clarence Love and King Oliver. In the midst of the Depression, Kansas City suffered less than most areas, and offered a haven for jazz musicians. Young took his wife Beatrice with him, but the marriage was mysteriously short-lived.

He had a short stint in Fletcher Henderson's band to replace legendary saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, but was bumped because Henderson did not like Young's cool, light tone. "By this time," wrote Perry, "he had found a voice on the tenor saxophone which was highly individual, contrasting strongly with the macho roar of Coleman Hawkins. His relaxed, spacious style could be considered as the first manifestation of a 'cool' approach to a music which until then had been fast and furious." He played with Andy Kirk for six months before joining Count Basie's band, and played a residency with him at Kansas City's Reno Club in the summer of 1936. He then went to Chicago with Jones Smith Incorporated, a quintet of Basie musicians, to make his first-ever recordings on tenor saxophone.

Spent Peak Performance Years With Basie

The definitive Count Basie Big Band came together in 1936, with Young on saxophone. Back with Basie in New York City, Young began to really make a name for himself; his light phrasing was unique among tenor saxophonists. He married Mary, his second wife, during this time. Basie made "the most of Lester's unusual personality and musical style," Perry wrote in Jazz Greats. He left Basie's band at the end of 1940--for reasons unknown--but appeared on several of the bandleader's recordings during his tenure. He also recorded with Billie Holiday, among others. Young and Holiday shared a deep yet platonic friendship that sustained the two in difficult times and lasted until Young's death. He nicknamed her "Lady Day" and she dubbed him "Pres," as in president of the tenor saxophone, which he undeniably was during this time in his career.

Young stepped out on his own in 1941, playing with his own group at the club Kelly's Stable in New York. He then co-led a band in California and New York with his brother Lee, but was unsatisfied. Lester Young did not have a leader's disposition. On a 1942 recording that featured Nat King Cole on piano, Lester Young produced a "much heavier tone," according to Perry, "full of vibrato and much more conventional. In short, he sounded less his own man."

Young rejoined Basie in 1944 and began to rebound. He was featured in an art film called Jammin' the Blues, which portrays him as a bohemian of the jazz age. He is credited for coining a slew of hip slang and street phrases of the era, including the word "bread" for money, and saying he was "bruised" when his feelings were hurt. "Ivey Divey" was what he said in the face of an unfortunate situation. He addressed everyone, male and female, as "lady," much to the chagrin of the men. While playing with drummer Jo Jones in a California club, Young and Jones were approached by a man interested in talking about jazz who bought the two a drink. He turned out to be an FBI agent who served them papers instructing them to report for the military draft. Young adapted horribly to rigid military life--which could be compared to his childhood--and spent a traumatic 15 months in the U.S. Army. While in the service, Young drank heavily and constantly found himself in trouble. He landed in the military hospital with a dislocated shoulder and was discovered carrying hashish. He spent a year confined at Fort Leavenworth, Texas, where the only relief he had came from Gil Evans, who later joined Miles Davis, who was stationed at Fort Leavenworth and did what he could to help him. It is widely believed that Young's army experience had a devastating effect on his life and work.

Long, Slow Decline Towards Death

Young's second marriage failed after he was discharged, and many "regard his post-war career as a harrowing slide towards a death that was a virtual suicide," according to David Perry in Jazz Greats. But this era was not all bad for Young. He married for a third time during this era, to another Mary, and moved to Queens, New York, where the two had a son, Lester Jr. He recorded one of his favorite pieces, DB Blues, (Detention Barracks Blues), and released Jumping with Symphony Sid. Young's own greatness was ironically to blame for his impending downfall, however. Many of the young jazz sax innovators he had so effectively inspired began eclipsing him during this time. Players like Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, and Stan Getz were becoming greats in their own right. The jazz world began to focus on these young lions. But Young had a differing opinion. "The trouble with most musicians today is that they are copycats," he was quoted as saying in Down Beat. As a result of the new players, Young worked less, becoming depressed, feeling obsolete, and drinking heavily. His playing suffered.

There were glimpses of the old Pres during this time, as on Pres Returns, which he recorded with Billie Holiday pianist Teddy Wilson. But this was the exception, and his performances were rare and painful to watch, so decrepit were his talents. Feeling a burden to his family, he moved into a New York City hotel room that overlooked Charlie Parker's booming club, Birdland. Young was never any good at making career decisions that actually furthered his career; he was almost devoid of business acumen. As a result, he was not financially well off. "If I'm so great, Lady Tate," he said to fellow saxophonist Buddy Tate, according to the New Statesman, "how come all the other tenor players, the ones who sound like me, are making all the money?" Rather than seeing Birdland as an inspiration, he saw it as a sign of his defeat. It was a cruel self-punishment that he lived in such proximity to it.

Young's friends turned him over to the care of a physician who treated his alcoholism for a time, but Young was too far-gone. One last opportunity for Young, a one-month residency at the Paris Blue Note club, was disastrous, as he developed a taste for the toxic libation absinthe. The stint ended by mutual consent after just three weeks. Young suffered internal bleeding on the long plane flight back to the United States, and died on March 15, 1959 in his hotel room, shortly after his return to New York.

Awards

Named greatest tenor saxophonist ever, Leonard Feather poll, 1956; elected posthumously to Down Beat Hall of Fame, 1959.

Works

Selected discography

• (With others) The Jazz Giants, Verve, 1986.
• The Complete Lester Young on Keynote (recorded 1944), Mercury, 1987.
• (With others) Lester Young and the Piano Giants, Verve, 1988.
• Live at Birdland 1951, Bandstand, 1992.
• Jazz Immortal Series (reissue), Savoy Jazz, 1993.
• The Master's Touch (reissue), Savoy Jazz, 1993.
• (With others) Rarities (recorded 1941), Moon, 1993.
• (With others) Lester Young in Washington, D.C. (recorded 1956), Fantasy/OJC, 1993.
• (With others) The Lester Young Trio (reissue), Verve, 1994.
• The Best of Lester Young, Pablo.
• The Lester Young Story (Volumes 1-5), Columbia.
• Count Basie: The Complete Collection of Count Basie Orchestra on Decca, MCA.
• Kansas City Six and Five: Commodore Classics in Jazz, Commodore.
• Prez and Friends, Commodore.
• Saxophone Giants, RCA.
• Pres: The Complete Savoy Recordings, Savoy.
• Jazz at the Philharmonic: Bird and Pres the 46 Concerts, Verve.
• Jazz at the Philharmonic: Lester Young Carnegie Blues, Verve.
• The Sound of Jazz, Columbia.

Further Reading

Books

• Carr, Ian, Fairweather, Digby, Priestley, Brian, Jazz: The Essential Companion, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.
• Chilton, John, Who's Who of Jazz, Da Capo, 1985.
• Claghorn, Charles Eugene, Biographical Dictionary of Jazz, Prentice-Hall, 1982.
• Daniels, Douglas Henry, Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester "Pres" Young, Beacon Press, 2002.
• Kernfeld, Barry, editor, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, St. Martin's Press, 1994.
• Larkin, Colin, editor, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, Ltd., 1998.
• Perry, David, Jazz Greats, Phaidon Press, Ltd., 1996.
• Porter, Lewis, editor, A Lester Young Reader, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991.

Periodicals

• Down Beat, February 1995, p. 38
• New Statesman, November 22, 1999, p. 53.

On-line

• All Music Guide Online, http://www.allmusic.com (August 20, 2002).

— Brenna Sanchez

Young, Lester Willis, 1909-59, American jazz musician, b. Woodville, Miss. He played the tenor saxophone with various bands (1929-40), including those of Fletcher Henderson and Count Basie, with whom he first recorded in 1936. Young and Coleman Hawkins are considered the major influences on tenor-saxophone playing, and Young's style was important in the development of progressive, or cool, jazz, which arose in the late 1940s. He won several jazz polls and made a number of records, including a series with Billie Holiday, who gave him his nickname, "President," later shortened to "Pres" or "Prez."

Bibliography

See biography by D. Gelly (2007).

For The Record...

Born Lester Willis Young, August 27, 1909, in Woodville, MS; died March 14, 1959, in New York, NY; son of Willis Handy (a bandleader) and Lizetta; married first wife, Beatrice (marriage ended); lived with common law spouse, Mary, 1937-46; married second wife, also named Mary, 1948; children: Lester, Jr., Yvette. Played with family band, 1919-27; toured with Art Bronson’s Bostonians and other bands, 1928-34; joined Count Basie Orchestra, then groups led by Fletcher Henderson and Andy Kirk; tenor saxophonist for Count Basie, 1936-40; played with brother Lee in Los Angeles, 1941; guest soloist for bands in New York City, 1941-44; recorded Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid, 1947; performed at Charlie Parker’s Birdland club, 1949 and 1951-54; toured United States and Europe 1952-57. Military service: U.S. Army, 1944-45. Awards: Named greatest tenor saxophonist ever, Leonard Feather poll, 1956; elected posthumously to Down Beat Hall of Fame, 1959.

Saxophonist

Saxophonist Lester Young had one of the memorable styles in twentieth-century jazz. Prez, or the President, as Young was nicknamed by singer Billie Holiday, played a spare and cerebral saxophone, though often a melancholy one. His tenor sax technique counterbalanced his peer Coleman Hawkins’s lush, heavily ornamented tone. In his book The Reluctant Art: The Growth of Jazz, Benny Green described the difference between the two artists: "Where Hawkins is profuse, Lester is pithy; where Hawkins is passionate, Lester is reflective."

Young’s presence on the bandstand, with his horn up and out at a 45 degree angle, was striking. Six feet tall with green eyes and reddish hair, Young was the archetypal hipster, wearing flashy double-breasted suits and pork-pie hats. His phrases, both in words and music, became legendary among other musicians. With the Count Basie Orchestra in the 1930s, Young defined the ideal for solo improvisations. In the 1950s he associated with the bebop innovators, such as alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, but he remained singular, a bridge between the hot jazz and the cool. Critic John Hammond, writing for Down Beat magazine in 1937, called Young "without a doubt the greatest tenor player in the country … the most original and inventive saxophonist I have ever heard."

Born on August 27, 1909, in Woodville, Mississippi, Young soon moved to Algiers, across the river from New Orleans. His mother was a Creole who taught school; Young’s father, Willis Handy, whom Young hardly knew, was an itinerant musician. Young grew up during the period in New Orleans when King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and Sidney Bechet were creating jazz. Young remembered chasing after wagons loaded with players and distributing the musicians’ handbills to the gathering crowds. Other jobs included shining shoes and delivering newspapers. When he turned ten, Young’s existence drastically changed. His father returned and his parents divorced. Lester and his siblings, Irma and Lee, went with their father on the road, moving to Memphis, Tennessee, then to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Everyone in the family was a member of Willis Handy’s band; Lester played drums and, later, alto saxophone.

Willis Handy was a stern taskmaster who demanded that his children learn to read music and who punished missteps. As a teenager, Lester evidenced a whimsical nature that often brought him into conflict with his father. Young split with his family as they were embarking on a tour through Texas and New Mexico in 1927. He then joined a succession of other bands. In 1928, while traveling with Art Bronson’s Bostonians, Young made

the tenor sax his primary instrument, apparently because the band’s tenor player was too slow dressing for performances. Young also preferred the larger sax’s deeper tone, although the alto more commonly got the solo part.

The Bostonians folded in September of 1930, and Young joined Walter Page’s Blue Devils. An unpaid hotel bill in Beckley, West Virginia, left Young and the other musicians stranded and their equipment confiscated. Young managed to get back to Minneapolis, where he played at the Nest Club, and then moved to jazz capital Kansas City. William Basie, who became known as "Count," played in Kansas City, as did Mary Lou Williams, Ben Webster, and, later, Charlie Parker. Young met Bennie Moten through mutual friend and saxophonist Herschel Evans. With Moten’s group, Young slipped easily into the "Kaycee" jazz style, which emphasized the second and fourth beats, as in the blues, and displayed short riffs repeated in different variations. The saxophonist became known for quiet bursts of invention that stunned listeners with their succinct power.

Young dueled Coleman Hawkins of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in a marathon "jam" session in 1933, an event that cemented his growing reputation. He joined Count Basie in 1934 and worked with him on and off for the next six years. During this period, he made his first recordings in Chicago, including Lady Be Good. By 1938 Young was celebrated enough to perform with Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall, and he joined Count Basie at the Famous Door and the Southland Cafe. Leaving Basie in December of 1940, Young went to Los Angeles to play with his brother Lee. World War II was looming, but Young was not interested in becoming a soldier. Eventually, a Federal Bureau of Investigations agent served induction notices on Jo Jones, the drummer, and Young at the Plantation Hotel in Los Angeles.

Young’s experience in the army was a disaster. Shortly after his entrance, he was arrested for drug possession: barbiturates that he had received for an obstacle course injury and marijuana. Young did not use hard drugs but smoked marijuana and drank alcohol more and more heavily throughout his life. He was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and was dishonorably discharged on December 1, 1945.

Opinions are mixed on whether Young was effective as a saxophonist after the war. Some critics thought that he became less creative and more eccentric. His popularity, however, increased steadily in the late 1940s, until he was making as much as $50,000 a year. His idiosyncrasies while performing became more pronounced. He would approach the bandstand in tiny baby steps and referred to everyone by the names "Prez" or "Lady." He reportedly became paranoid, feeling as if no one liked him, and apparently resented his own success, which made his most original solos standard fare. Young played at the opening of Charlie Parker’s Bird-land in 1949 and toured Europe with Birdland groups and with Count Basie. In 1956 he was voted greatest tenor saxophonist ever by his fellow jazz musicians in a Leonard Feather poll.

Young was hospitalized several times in the 1950s for medical problems related to his drinking. By February of 1958 he had recovered enough to attempt recording again, but the results were weak. In the spring, he moved out of his house and into the Alvin Hotel on 52nd Street in New York City, across from Birdland. A woman named Elaine Swain nursed him there, and he gradually regained strength. He soon made an appearance with Jack Teagarden at the Newport Jazz Festival and arranged for new promotional materials. As a sign of his recovery, he made an engagement to play the Blue Note Club in Paris, France. The run proved to be his last—he started drinking again and was forced to return to New York. Young died at his hotel on March 15, 1959.

Many saxophone players have credited Young as their inspiration. Young noted that his style was much like Billie Holiday’s singing. In Holiday’s autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, Young is quoted as saying that he would listen to records of Holiday in duets with himself, and they would "sound like two of the same voices, if you don’t be careful, you know—or the same mind or something like that." His personal and musical imagination are embedded in the textures of modern jazz.

Selected discography
(With others) The Jazz Giants, Verve, 1986.
The Complete Lester Young on Keynote (recorded 1944), Mercury, 1987.
(With others) Lester Young and the Piano Giants, Verve, 1988.
Live at Birdland 1951, Bandstand, 1992.
Jazz Immortal Series (reissue), Savoy Jazz, 1993.
The Master’s Touch (reissue), Savoy Jazz, 1993.
(With others) Rarities (recorded 1941), Moon, 1993.
(With others) Lester Young in Washington, D.C. (recorded 1979), Fantasy/OJC, 1993.
(With others) The Lester Young Trio (reissue), Verve, 1994.
The Best of Lester Young, Pablo.
The Lester Young Story (Volumes 1-5), Columbia.
Count Basie: The Complete Collection of Count Basie Orchestra on Decca, MCA.
Kansas City Six and Five: Commodore Classics in Jazz, Commodore.
Prez and Friends, Commodore.
Saxophone Giants, RCA.
Pres: The Complete Savoy Recordings, Savoy.
Jazz at the Philharmonic: Bird and Pres the 46 Concerts, Verve.
Jazz at the Philharmonic: Lester Young Carnegie Blues, Verve.
The Sound of Jazz, Columbia.

Sources
Books
Delannoy, Luc, Pres, The Story of Lester Young, University of Arkansas Press, 1993.
Green, Benny, The Reluctant Art: The Growth of Jazz, Horizon Press, 1963.
Hammond, John, John Hammond on Record: An Autobiography, Ridge Press, 1977.
Holiday, Billie, with William Dufty, Lady Sings the Blues, Doubleday, 1956.
Porter, Lewis, Lester Young, Twayne, 1985.
Simon, George T., The Big Bands, Macmillan, 1967.
Steams, Marshall, The Story of Jazz, Oxford Press, 1962.
Wilson, John S., Jazz: The Transition Years, Appleton, 1966.

Periodicals
Down Beat, November 2, 1955; March 7, 1956; March 1, 1962.

• Genres: Jazz

Biography

Lester Young was one of the true jazz giants, a tenor saxophonist who came up with a completely different conception in which to play his horn, floating over bar lines with a light tone rather than adopting Coleman Hawkins' then-dominant forceful approach. A non-conformist, Young (nicknamed "Pres" by Billie Holiday) had the ironic experience in the 1950s of hearing many young tenors try to sound exactly like him.

Although he spent his earliest days near New Orleans, Lester Young lived in Minneapolis by 1920, playing in a legendary family band. He studied violin, trumpet, and drums, starting on alto at age 13. Because he refused to tour in the South, Young left home in 1927 and instead toured with Art Bronson's Bostonians, switching to tenor. He was back with the family band in 1929 and then freelanced for a few years, playing with Walter Page's Blue Devils (1930), Eddie Barefield in 1931, back with the Blue Devils during 1932-1933, and Bennie Moten and King Oliver (both 1933). He was with Count Basie for the first time in 1934 but left to replace Coleman Hawkins with Fletcher Henderson. Unfortunately, it was expected that Young would try to emulate Hawk, and his laid-back sound angered Henderson's sidemen, resulting in Pres not lasting long. After a tour with Andy Kirk and a few brief jobs, Lester Young was back with Basie in 1936, just in time to star with the band as they headed East. Young made history during his years with Basie, not only participating on Count's record dates but starring with Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson on a series of classic small-group sessions. In addition, on his rare recordings on clarinet with Basie and the Kansas City Six, Young displayed a very original cool sound that almost sounded like altoist Paul Desmond in the 1950s. After leaving Count in 1940, Young's career became a bit aimless, not capitalizing on his fame in the jazz world. He co-led a low-profile band with his brother, drummer Lee Young, in Los Angeles until re-joining Basie in December 1943. Young had a happy nine months back with the band, recorded a memorable quartet session with bassist Slam Stewart, and starred in the short film Jammin' the Blues before he was drafted. His experiences dealing with racism in the military were horrifying, affecting his mental state of mind for the remainder of his life.

Although many critics have written that Lester Young never sounded as good after getting out of the military, despite erratic health he actually was at his prime in the mid- to late-'40s. He toured (and was well paid by Norman Granz) with Jazz at the Philharmonic on and off through the '40s and '50s, made a wonderful series of recordings for Aladdin, and worked steadily as a single. Young also adopted his style well to bebop (which he had helped pave the way for in the 1930s). But mentally he was suffering, building a wall between himself and the outside world, and inventing his own colorful vocabulary. Although many of his recordings in the 1950s were excellent (showing a greater emotional depth than in his earlier days), Young was bothered by the fact that some of his white imitators were making much more money than he was. He drank huge amounts of liquor and nearly stopped eating, with predictable results. 1956's Jazz Giants album found him in peak form as did a well documented engagement in Washington, D.C., with a quartet and a last reunion with Count Basie at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. But, for the 1957 telecast The Sound of Jazz, Young mostly played sitting down (although he stole the show with an emotional one-chorus blues solo played to Billie Holiday). After becoming ill in Paris in early 1959, Lester Young came home and essentially drank himself to death. Many decades after his death, Pres is still considered (along with Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane) one of the three most important tenor saxophonists of all time. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi

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