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About Lester Young:
‘Lester Young recorded for the Aladdin label between December 1945 and December 1947, leading a series of small groups that would range in size from quintets to a septet. While Young’s solos were a marvelous paradox of the languid and the taut, his approach to putting a group together could be simply casual. His sidemen here come from both the ranks of the justly celebrated and the journeymen, whose names have all but disappeared from jazz history. The bands can include collisions of swing era stalwarts and dedicated boppers. Something of that’s apparent in the first Aladdin session, where trombonist Vic Dickenson and pianist Dodo Marmarosa seem to have the blues in different languages on Young’s eloquent “D.B. Blues.” It seems to have mattered little to Young, who was in many ways a school of one. His playing here is usually at a level that others only dream about, creating a linear flow that has its own superior internal logic, whether the subject at hand is a standard, a blues, or an uptempo variant on “I Got Rhythm.” His sound is one of the marvels of jazz, not just for its airy transparency but for its flexibility, the way a line is constantly shaded with gently honking punctuations and a hint of gravel. In addition to the Aladdin sessions, this two-CD set includes a 1942 trio date that’s focused on standards and has Nat “King” Cole on piano and Red Callendar on bass. Young’s solo on “Indiana” is one of his marvels of multidimensional swing. There’s also a 1945 session with singer Helen Humes that has terrific input from trumpeter Snooky Young and altoist Willie Smith as well as Young.’ —Stuart Broomer, Amazon.com
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