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unusual facts about Lester Young


Robert Delford Brown

He continued, “You’d have 50 musicians up at a jazz concert, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young, they all showed up. And I was like 15 years old. My mother would drive me and sit outside while I was in there …a little white boy with all these black people. And the black guys… they’d be passing quarts of vodka around.”


Aaron Bell

In the 1950s, Bell appeared on Billie Holiday's album Lady Sings the Blues and with Lester Young, Stan Kenton, Johnny Hodges, Cab Calloway, Carmen McRae, and Dick Haymes.

Al Killian

During this time he also led his own record session in Stockholm, and took part in one led by Lester Young, as well as participating in several jam sessions which were also recorded.

Bill Coleman

During this same time, Coleman participated in many recording sessions with top jazz stars such as Lester Young, Billie Holiday and Coleman Hawkins.

John LaPorta

LaPorta also developed his sense of jazz from such prominent figures as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lester Young and Herschel Evans.

Kenny Drew

Drew's first recording, in 1950, was with Howard McGhee, and over the next two years he worked in bands led by Buddy DeFranco, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker, among others.

Lester Young Trio

The Lester Young Trio and The Lester Young Trio No. 2 are jazz trio albums recorded in Hollywood, California in March - April 1946 by Lester Young with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich.

Marie Bryant

She also appeared as the head of a dance troupe in the movie Carolina Blues, and sang in the 1944 short film Jammin' the Blues, accompanied by Lester Young, Barney Kessel and others.

Mutual Musicians' Foundation Building

Members of the Mutual Musicians Foundation included Count Basie, Bennie Moten, Jay McShann, George F. Lee, singer Julia Lee, trumpeter Hot Lips Page, tenor saxophonists Dick Wilson, Herschel Evans and Lester Young, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, drummer Baby Lovett, and pianist Pete Johnson.

Paul Quinichette

He was known as the Vice President or Vice Prez for his uncanny emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, known as Prez.

The Lightning Child

The fourth tells of Holliday and her reconciliation with Lester Young behind the scenes at The Sound of Jazz in 1957.

Vic Dickenson

But if you're looking for more, listen to these recordings under the name of other jazz musicians with Vic as a sideman: Jimmy Rushing (Vanguard Rec.), Coleman Hawkins (Capitol Rec.), Pee Wee Russell (Black Lion Rec.), Benny Carter (BlueBird & Black & Blue Rec.), Lester Young (Blue Note & Verve Rec.), Count Basie (Columbia & Pablo Rec.), Sidney Bechet (BlueBird, Black & Blue & Blue Note Rec.) In 1953, he recorded 'The Vic Dickenson Showcase' for Vanguard.


see also

Norman Granz

In 1944, Granz and Gjon Mili produced the jazz film Jammin' the Blues, which starred Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, Barney Kessel, Harry Edison, Jo Jones, Sidney Catlett, Marlowe Morris, and Marie Bryant, and was nominated for an Academy Award.