One of the great myths of jazz history is that by the final decade of his life, Lester Young was a burnout case, too drunk to stand up and play his horn, much less attain the creative flights of fancy that marked his groundbreaking work with Count Basie in the late '30s.
But when these live recordings of Young playing with the Bill Potts Trio in Washington, D.C., were first released on LP in 1980, the jazz world had to re-evaluate its thinking.
These privately recorded tapes revealed that not only was Prez far from being a broken shadow of his former self, he was blowing his heart out, obviously inspired by the playing of the trio behind him and the relaxed setting of the date itself.
Kicking off with an uptempo take on "A Foggy Day," Young shows he's in full command of his chops, and the trio backs him buoyantly.
Of the seven selections on this disc, Young contributes two blues of his own derivation, along with great readings of "When You're Smiling" and "Tea for Two," as well as a version of "I Can't Get Started with You" that rivals the live version cut as a member of the Jazz at the Philharmonic troupe in 1946.
Those who dismiss his later work as uninspired will find this disc a revelation and a wonderful addition to his legacy.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Foggy DayGeorge Gershwin, Ira Gershwin | Lester Young | Play | 05:28 | 12 MB | 21 MB |
| 2 | When You're SmilingFred Fisher, Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay | Lester Young | Play | 06:00 | 13 MB | 25 MB |
| 3 | I Can't Get StartedVernon Duke, Ira Gershwin | Lester Young | Play | 03:34 | 8 MB | 11 MB |
| 4 | D.B. BluesCarl Beaks, Lester Young | Lester Young | Play | 07:50 | 17 MB | 31 MB |
| 5 | Tea for TwoIrving Caesar, Vincent Youmans | Lester Young | Play | 05:43 | 13 MB | 23 MB |
| 6 | Jeepers CreepersJohnny Mercer, Harry Warren | Lester Young | Play | 06:13 | 14 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | Fast B-Flat Blues | Lester Young | Play | 05:54 | 13 MB | 24 MB |
| 40 mins | 93 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 161 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carl Beaks | Composer |
| 2 | Irving Caesar | Composer |
| 3 | Phil Carroll | Art Direction |
| 4 | Vernon Duke | Composer |
| 5 | Fred Fisher | Composer |
| 6 | Mark Fisher | Composer |
| 7 | George Gershwin | Composer |
| 8 | Ira Gershwin | Composer |
| 9 | Joe Goodwin | Composer |
| 10 | Gary Hobish | Digital Remastering |
| 11 | Jim Lucht | Drums |
| 12 | Gilles Margerin | Design |
| 13 | Johnny Mercer | Composer |
| 14 | Bill Potts | Liner Notes, Piano |
| 15 | Larry Shay | Composer |
| 16 | Phil Stern | Photography |
| 17 | Harry Warren | Composer |
| 18 | Norman Williams | Bass |
| 19 | Vincent Youmans | Composer |
| 20 | Lester Young | Composer, Primary Artist, Sax (Tenor) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |