Lester "Prez" Young by Joseph Mulhern

Why I chose him

jmulh388 — 2025-02-10 18:19:48 UTC

I chose Lester young based on just one image of him: the one pictured above. if you couldn't tell, this is not a regular way of holding a saxophone, and I wanted to learn more. And turns out, this guy is as interesting as you can get!

What did they do?

jmulh388 — 2025-02-10 18:32:28 UTC

Lester Young set himself from other Tenor saxophones in the time... by doing everything differently. While others focused on creating aggressive, hard-driving melodies (like Coleman Hawkins), Young played at the highest range the tenor could offer, creating an almost "lyrical" style of playing. he also held his instrument differently, often playing it 45* to his side.

Speech

jmulh388 — 2025-02-10 18:37:50 UTC

Lester young had a very interesting way of speaking, witch was very very smooth, but consisted with tons of strange slang (like saying he had "big eyes" for the things he liked) and new words that he crafted on the fly. Three of the most well known ones that he popularized is the word "cool" as a compliment, using "bread" as a slang for money, and "you dig?" as understanding.

Image

jmulh388 — 2025-02-10 18:44:01 UTC

Connection to Institutional Racism

jmulh388 — 2025-02-10 18:51:44 UTC

In his normal life Lester Young was extremely shy and introverted, and found Jazz as an escape from the discrimination faced during the time. However, the worst discrimination was the draft. Despite his talents, he was put in the "regular army" and just like everything in his life, he disobeyed order and thus got dishonorably discharged. he carried the trauma from the army for the rest of his life, became a heavy alcoholic and it is said he never played the same again. Just 20 years after the war, Young drank himself to death on a tour to Paris. He was 49.

Connection to Today

jmulh388 — 2025-02-11 16:13:24 UTC

Beside popularizing many slang words, he is also credited with the phrase "tell your story" as a metaphor for jazz improvisation. His unique style inspired many artists and continues to be used and experimented on today (although not the horn angle, sadly). And like many others, his music is still played at many a jazz club and listened to by many people. yet still, he is still relatively unknown in the music space, despite his accomplishments.

"The president of the tenor saxophone"

jmulh388 — 2025-02-11 16:28:02 UTC

How Lester Young got the nickname is disputed, some say it is just a nickname his good friend Billie holiday gave him, while others think it correlates with one of his crowning achievements.

One day, the Fletcher Henderson traveling orchestra's main tenor saxophonist, Coleman Hawkins, missed a show. needing a replacement, they called in Young to sub. Young, in his usual fashion, did his own style. and the fans went WILD. Later on, Hawkins decided to move to Europe, leaving Young as the "prez-ident" of the Henderson band.

Despite the fans loving his style, young eventually left the band due to all of their works requiring Hawkins harsh tones. He eventually settled down in count basie's orchestra

Connection to Experiences in the north.

jmulh388 — 2025-02-11 16:54:46 UTC

I think the guardian put Young and holiday's friendship best- "intensely intimate but totally platonic relationship" their friendship spawned out of their shared experiences from their "common understanding of the nature of the world that they lived, and the nature of the pain they had to struggle through to do what they had to do." -(chill down there, Kamau Daaoud, you're doing my work for me!)

their similarities extended to their downfall, with both struggling with substance abuse and trauma post-1940.

Clarinet?

jmulh388 — 2025-02-11 17:19:02 UTC

One fact that is often repeated is Lester Young's clarinet- and there are no good sources on it. (you can hear him playing it in the piece above) but according to the good ol reliable and totally never wrong™ Wikipedia, his clarinet was stolen off stage and he never played the instrument again until he was gifted a new one. that's supposedly why you don't hear it. at all.