The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve

[tranemonk]

I completely do NOT remember this release... Amazon has it coming out in 1999.. 8 Cd's...

with Disc 8 composed of mostly interviews...

Did anyone pick this up??? Got a review???

[JSngry]

Got it for Christmas back in 1999, and am very happy with it. If you dig Lester, you'll want at least some of the Verve material. If you love Lester, you'll want it all, and this is the place to get it. The interviews are priceless, I think. Packaging is a bit shaky, but that's what Verve was into in those days.

[MartyJazz]

Ditto. A must have. I'm one of those who doesn't go along with the opinion that only pre-war Lester is worth having. There's lots of great music in this box set. And the interviews are indispensable, "our own" Christiern having done one of them.

[Soul Stream]

Not that I didn't dig pre-war Lester, just that I've alway much preferred his Verve stuff by a long shot. Really, really, really soulful playing. As much soul as ever been put on wax of any era or genre.

[JSngry]

Yeah, that's the thing about the Verve stuff, so much soul. Sometimes the chops are down (not as often as the "conventional wisdom" of the past would ahve you think, however), but there's never any lack of feeling. Intense feeling at that.

[Chuck Nessa]

Not that I didn't dig pre-war Lester, just that I've alway much preferred his Verve stuff by a long shot. Really, really, really soulful playing. As much soul as ever been put on wax of any era or genre.

SORRY!

For me, pre-war Lester was from a different planet and post-war he joined the rest of us. The post-war stuff is first rate, but (pre-war) DAMN!

[MartyJazz]

Not that I didn't dig pre-war Lester, just that I've alway much preferred his Verve stuff by a long shot.  Really, really, really soulful playing.  As much soul as ever been put on wax of any era or genre.

SORRY!

For me, pre-war Lester was from a different planet and post-war he joined the rest of us. The post-war stuff is first rate, but (pre-war) DAMN!

Terms like pre-war (Basie) and post-war (Aladdin, Verve) imply that he wasn't recording during the war. His greatest stuff IMO were the Keynote, Signature and Commodore recordings of late 1943 to early 1944. I'm always moved to get up and dance (you wouldn't want to witness that, trust me) whenever I hear his versions of "I Never Knew", "I Got Rhythm (Signature version especially), etc. from that period.

[jazzbo]

I think I sort of agree with almost anyone here. . . And I certainly agree that this is one great reissue that I bought on the day of release. . . !

I agree with Chuck for the most part, that Pres was nearly superhuman and then became so deeply human. . . . I love the whole work. Thank God for Lester Willis!

[Bol]

By "pre-war" Lester Young, do people mean his playing on Basie sessions now available on Decca/Universal and Columbia/Sony? Are there other sessions that he led himself? Thanks in advance. I have the Commodore, Keynote, Aladdin, and Verve sessions and like them all. But I wouldn't mind checking out even better stuff.

[AllenLowe]

Prez was definitely a changed man after the war - BUT - you have to pick and choose - first of course post-War is the session with Nat Cole and Buddy Rich (1946?) - also, some of the 1950s broadcast stuff is sublime, and there are good studio sessions from the early 1950s - Onyx put out that Lester Young LP which covered, I think, 1956-58 and had some superb things recorded "live" - Dave Schildkraut used to play the "live" 1950s stuff for me and say "this is where I went to school" - Prez had lost some of the energy but there is some rhythm play, repeated notes, etc on those things that is priceless -

Edited March 2, 2005 by AllenLowe

[Chuck Nessa]

By "pre-war" Lester Young, do people mean his playing on Basie sessions now available on Decca/Universal and Columbia/Sony? Are there other sessions that he led himself? Thanks in advance. I have the Commodore, Keynote, Aladdin, and Verve sessions and like them all. But I wouldn't mind checking out even better stuff.

You seem to know the best "commercial" stuff but seek out the Basie airchecks like "At the Chatterbox", stuff from the Famous Door, Meadowbrook Ballroom, etc.

[jazzbo]

Damn! I wish Masters of Jazz were still around Uncle Clem!

[clandy44]

Who's Lester Young? By the way, while you're getting Lester, do not overlook his five sublime sessions in DC in 1956 with the recently deceased Bill Potts. I come back to them frequently even though I have all the"commercial stuff" too. Maybe I'm just a homer, but Lester sounds so lyrical and relaxed on these sessions. Incidentaly, tranemonk, pick up the Verve set if you can-there is some soulful wailing by the master on them.

[ghost of miles]

Also an interview with our own Chris Albertson.

[John L]

Not that I didn't dig pre-war Lester, just that I've alway much preferred his Verve stuff by a long shot.  Really, really, really soulful playing.  As much soul as ever been put on wax of any era or genre.

SORRY!

For me, pre-war Lester was from a different planet and post-war he joined the rest of us. The post-war stuff is first rate, but (pre-war) DAMN!

That sounds about right to me. Yet the human Lester was often just as moving as the alien Lester.

[bluesoul]

Copy of this set on eBay with a starting bid of $29.95.  Still a few days to go, but someone might get lucky and snag this for a lot less than what I've seen it listed for in the past.