Lester Young

Among the authentic giants of jazz was Lester Young, a tenor saxophonist whose fresh conception for the horn involved drifting across bar lines with a weightless timbre instead of following the powerful, dominant manner then established by Coleman Hawkins. Defying norms at every turn, Young—whom Billie Holiday dubbed "Pres"—later faced the peculiar reversal in the 1950s of listening to numerous younger tenor players striving to duplicate his exact sound.

Though his earliest years unfolded near New Orleans, Lester Young had settled in Minneapolis by 1920, performing in a storied family band. He took up violin, trumpet, and drums before switching to alto at age 13. Unwilling to travel through the South, Young departed home in 1927 and joined Art Bronson's Bostonians on tour, at which point he moved to tenor. He rejoined the family ensemble in 1929, then spent several years as a freelancer, appearing with Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1930, Eddie Barefield in 1931, the Blue Devils again during 1932-1933, and both Bennie Moten and King Oliver in 1933. Young first worked with Count Basie in 1934, only to depart and fill the chair vacated by Coleman Hawkins in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. Because sidemen expected him to copy Hawk's approach, his relaxed delivery provoked friction, and Pres soon moved on. Following a stint with Andy Kirk and several short engagements, Lester Young returned to Basie in 1936, arriving just as the band prepared to head East. During those Basie years he made history through both the leader's recording sessions and a celebrated series of small-group dates alongside Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson. On the infrequent occasions he played clarinet with Basie and the Kansas City Six, Young produced an utterly personal cool tone that foreshadowed the alto style Paul Desmond would later popularize in the 1950s.

After leaving Count in 1940, Young's path grew unfocused despite his established jazz stature. He co-directed a modest group with his brother, drummer Lee Young, in Los Angeles until rejoining Basie in December 1943. The ensuing nine-month reunion proved rewarding; he also taped a notable quartet date with bassist Slam Stewart and appeared in the short film Jammin' the Blues before being drafted. The racism he endured in the military proved traumatic and left lasting effects on his psychological well-being.

Although numerous writers claimed Lester Young never regained his former level after military service, erratic health notwithstanding, he was actually in peak form throughout the mid- to late-1940s. He traveled intermittently with Jazz at the Philharmonic, earning solid compensation from Norman Granz, cut an outstanding sequence of sides for Aladdin, and maintained steady work as a solo artist. Young adapted his language effectively to bebop, a movement he had helped anticipate during the 1930s. Mentally, however, he grew increasingly withdrawn, erecting barriers between himself and others while developing his own vivid slang. Many of his 1950s recordings remained strong, revealing deeper emotional resonance than earlier work, yet he could not ignore the reality that several of his white imitators were earning far more. He consumed vast quantities of alcohol and largely ceased eating, with foreseeable consequences. The 1956 Jazz Giants album captured him at full strength, as did a thoroughly documented Washington, D.C., quartet engagement and a final reunion with Count Basie at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. During the 1957 telecast The Sound of Jazz, Young performed mostly seated, though he still captivated viewers with a deeply felt one-chorus blues solo directed at Billie Holiday. After falling ill in Paris in early 1959, Lester Young returned home and essentially drank himself to death. Decades later, Pres continues to rank, alongside Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane, among the three most consequential tenor saxophonists in the music's history.