Sonny Rollins speaks about Lester Young

[Hardbopjazz]

 

 

[JSngry]

I ain't gonna tell you in English...

 

[paul secor]

11 hours ago, Hardbopjazz said:

 

 

Thanks for posting that!  Wonderful to hear.

[mjzee]

Excellent.  So interesting to hear Sonny at a loss for words when trying to describe Lester's playing (he even gazes somewhere else, not at the interviewer, as if to grasp/describe something beyond him - and this is Sonny Rollins!).  Reinforces for me how music acts on and operates within portions of the brain/mind that have nothing to do with description, rational thought or our more prosaic modes of existence; music is somewhere else.

[Eric]

44 minutes ago, mjzee said:

Excellent.  So interesting to hear Sonny at a loss for words when trying to describe Lester's playing (he even gazes somewhere else, not at the interviewer, as if to grasp/describe something beyond him - and this is Sonny Rollins!).  Reinforces for me how music acts on and operates within portions of the brain/mind that have nothing to do with description, rational thought or our more prosaic modes of existence; music is somewhere else.

Well said.

[Henry Ferrini]

Dear Organissimo readers,

I found this site when I got a report that my Lester snippets were  picked up by Google.  These pieces are part of a film I am in the process of making called

President of Beauty: the life and times of Lester Young. If you are interested in knowing more about the film you can go to my website. https://lesterlives.wordpress.com/ There are also many more bits from interviews  w/ Harry Belafonte, BB King, Lee Konitz, Gunther Schuller, Branford Marsalis and many more.  Additionally if you would like to support this effort you can make a tax exempt donation on the website. I also post about Pres at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/President-of-Beauty-Life-and-Times-of-Lester-Young/743747912347422?ref=tn_tnmn

Thanks for your comments on my project.

Henry Ferrini

[mikeweil]

Great stuff! Please keep us updated about the film, and where to purchse a copy once it is finished!

[AllenLowe]

Henry - reading this: "His actions spoke louder when he left his father’s band in the 1920’s because he didn’t want to submit to traveling the toxic landscapes of the south."

do you have a citation of Lester actually testifying to this reason for leaving?  It may be true, but I have never heard this before.

also was wondering about: "He was entrapped by a zoot suited officer and forced to enlist else go to prison." What kind of entrapment was it? Drug-related? This is also something I have never heard about.

Edited January 10, 2016 by AllenLowe

[Henry Ferrini]

Allen,

I believe the "toxic landscapes"  are addressed in the Douglas Henry Daniels book. This may be his interpretation but let me go see if I can find it and I'll get back to you. 

As for entrapment.  I'm not at my books but Jo Jones was there and part of the party and talks about the scene. He was stung in LA while he was getting ready to do the Gjon Mili film.  An undercover military officer dressed in a Zoot suit plied Jo Jones and Pres with drinks.  The story i remember is just about the time Lester was going to turn him on he pulled papers and served them both.  Saying,  show up on Monday at the draft board or be put in jail. Lee brought him down to the draft board and  so  the "mad nightmare" began.

I  felt this the Kierkegaard Parable: The Poet was apt to all the trials Pres would endure from that point in his life until the Ides of March 1959.

Pleasure to hear from you.

cheers,

Henry

 

 

 

[AllenLowe]

thanks; that's not really entrapment in the classic legal sense, which is why I asked. As for leaving Mississippi because of the racial scene, I have no doubt that anyone in that environment who was black would want to leave if they could; but I did learn from one of the truly great historians, Larry Gushee, that we should not accept that anything is true unless we know it is true; a lot of misinformation has been spread in this way, so I would be cautious about making historical claims that we cannot really prove - unless we indicate as such. I think your project is extremely important, which is why I am picking these nits.

[Peter Friedman]

Listening to Sonny speak in such glowing terms about Lester Young really warmed my heart.

I could sense the great love and admiration he had for Pres.