Wobbly and splayed, this performance of the Jobim classic sounds more like a soundtrack for my life than the silky Getz/Gilberto original ever could.

Ran Blake, “The Girl From Ipanema”

*****

Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto (with a very young Gary Burton on vibes), “The Girl From Ipanema” (1964 [charted at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100]; this is from the 1964 movie “Get Yourself A College Girl”)

**********

lagniappe

mail

The immediacy of the e-world never ceases to amaze. After posting yesterday’s clip, I sent Sam Newsome an email—I’d happened upon his e-address at his website—to let him know that his music was being featured here. A few hours later, this was in my e-mailbox: “Thanks, Richard. It looks like I’m in good company. Peace, S”

*****

reading table

On this Thanksgiving Day, here’s a favorite quote.

Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.—Henry James

Anwesende: Thomas

Motto: “2012 ist JETZT!”

Das hat heute mit einer Weltuntergangsstimmung begonnen….. aber 2012 geht ja eh die Welt unter! Und das ist HEUTE, wenn wir uns verrechnet hätten!

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Musik von: John Coltrane, Hugh Masekela, mElek Bacsik, Count Basie, Yusef lateef, Dave Brubeck, Pink Turtle, Elder Richard Byrant’s Sanct. Singers, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Chet Baker & Stan Getz

Thema: “Leopoldi (Der Hl. Leopold)”

Anwesende: Thomas

Heute feiern wir (vor allem die Niederösterreicher) den Hl. Leopold. Wie man das mit Jazz kreuzen kann, und was für Pop-Songs mit Jazz gekreuzt werden können….. da hat man ja echt ein Kreuz damit!

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Musik von: Hank Mobley, Ray Bryant, Pink Turtle, Clark Terry, Charles Mingus, Steve Lacy & Don Cherry, Dirty Dozen Brass band, Chet Baker & Stan Getz

Bis nächste (!) Woche!

"  "Alfie" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

It was the theme from the 1966 film Alfie. It was performed in the film during the end credits by Cher in an arrangement by Sonny Bono.

In 1966, Cher released her version (also the original version of this song) as a single. Released on the Imperial label, this version became a top forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

Also in 1966, Cilla Black released her version of "Alfie" as a single. It became a top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at number nine. It was also a minor hit for her on the Billboard Hot 100.

On the Billboard adult contemporary chart, two further versions competed in 1966. While Carmen McRae took her version to number 29 on that chart, the version by Joanie Sommers enjoyed greater success, peaking at number nine.

In 1967, Dionne Warwick released her cover version as a single. This version outperformed both Black’s and Cher’s in the United States, going all the way to number 15 on the Hot 100 and number five on the Billboard R&B chart.

In 1968, Stevie Wonder released a harmonica instrumental version. This version also made the Hot 100, peaking at number 66. It was also a top twenty adult contemporary hit. Wonder released the single for Gordy Records under the pseudonym Eivets Rednow  (Stevie Wonder).

Other artists to record versions of "Alfie" include several versions by Burt Bacharach himself, Vikki Carr, The Delfonics, Bill Evans, Percy Faith, Blossom Dearie, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Getz, Dick Hyman, Jack Jones, The Anita Kerr Singers, Johnny Mathis, Brad Mehldau, Matt Monro, Mina Mazzini, Olivia Newton-John, Elaine Paige, Buddy Rich, Joss Stone (for the 2004 remake of Alfie), Barbra Streisand, The Sweet Inspirations, McCoy Tyner, Patricia Barber, Midge Ure, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson and Vanessa L. Williams.

In a deleted scene from the movie Austin Powers in Goldmember, they parody the song, replacing Alfie with Austin. The song is sung by most of the main characters. Michael Caine, who plays Austin Powers father, also played "Alfie" in the original movie. Scenes from the 1966 film Alfie can be seen in the background while he is singing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfie_(song) . "

In this video, Tom Hope is on piano and my friend,

Jazz singer, the FABULOUS Kimberly Gordon

singing one of my favorite Burt Bacharach 

and Hal David songs, check it out! Kimberly has a CD

with her Trio called Melancholy Serenade which has

a wonderful and PROFESSIONALLY recorded version

of "Alfie".

Blue Bossa è un brano famoso composto dal sottovalutato trombettista be bop Kenny Dorham, apparso per la prima volta in un album Blue Note intestato al tenorsassofonista Joe Henderson intitolato Page One.  E’ un omaggio alla bossa nova e alla musica brasiliana;  la bossa nova era un genere che stava spopolando negli U.S.A. - non dimentichiamo che agli inizi degli anni 60  jazzisti più famosi di Joe Henderson o di Kenny Dorham, come il grande sassofonista tenore Stan Getz, che insieme alla cantante brasiliana Astrud Gilberto, aveva registrato con sommo scandalo dei puristi jazz,  alcune canzoni di Antonio Jobim.

Blue Bossa è anche il brano più famoso di Kenny Dorham ed è anche il più citato in ambito non prettamente jazz. Paradossalmente questo brano, piuttosto che rilanciare il maturo trombettista, ebbe il merito di lanciare un’altra stella come il sassofonista tenore Joe Henderson nel firmamento della Blue Note  la casa discografica fondata nel 1939 da Alfred Lion e Francis Wolff.

Page One, Blue Note 1963; Kenny Dorham: tromba; Joe Henderson sax tenore; Mccoy Tyner pianoforte; Butch Warren: contrabbasso; Pete La Roca: batteria

Stan Getz & Chet Baker – Dear Old Stockholm

Stan Getz – Desafinado, Girl from Impanema

John Coltrane & Stan Getz – Hackensack

Just listen to that sultry voice — it just drips sensuousness, perfectly aligned with the gorgeously lush saxophone playing of the one and only Stan Getz. Gets me sighing every time.

"I don't like the new Brand New album as much as 'The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me'." Bullshit, peacock!

Outside of the hearing impaired, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy music or even disregards its impact on their life.  There is no way that you can trot through life or consume in our society without considering music as an integral facet in your life.  As I write this, I’m listening to Bill Evans and Stan Getz get it on… musically.

I can’t get away from music in my own life.  This is self-imposed.

Even if you didn’t listen to a death-core album a day, which is proven to keep doctors away, your ears are pummeled by sound daily.  The television/radio jingles that you hear on your way to work, the lobby playlist at your dentist’s office, the crazy man on S. Congress that frantically strums and croons at passersby, etc. are all sonic reminders of how we are connected and, at times, disconnected through music.

Forms of consumption are often used as tools for peacocking.  In my life, I have found that no one is excluded from this practice.  Many of us use the universal concept of music  to connect to the people we care to be with, to separate ourselves from the ones we feel are different and/or to grandstand as connoisseurs, civilized or fun types.

I think I’m just writing this because I read Adorno this week and feel especially cynical about certain things.

——————————–

At 11, my mother decided that it was best that I not go to Sharpstown Middle School.  The gang initiations and violence had alarmed my mother enough to request my enrollment in Paul Revere Middle School’s Magnet Program.

Before my adventures in suburban schools, I was a Latino kid who lived in the “ghetto” and loved rap music.  97.9 The Box was the only station I listened to.  My cousin Tony from Chicago introduced me to the greats.  I loved Tupac, Biggie, Bone Thugs, Easy E, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill.  If they were gangsta’ and from the 90s, I listened to them a lot.  I even remember discussing the latest Lil’ Keke album with a chum during lunch in 6th grade.  Just like Texas, Dago was from “da souf”.

The culture was different in suburban middle school.  There weren’t as many “gangstas” around and the ones that pretended were just assholes.  I needed to fit in somehow.  I was smart, but that made you the butt of a lot of jokes.  I used music as my in.  I learned so much about these alien kids and their culture through TV and the radio.  I would listen to Top 40 Radio and the Alternative station because I wanted a clue.  There kids never heard of Los Bukis and for sure didn’t actively listen to “My Ambitions As a Ridah”.  I watched Dawson’s Creek and other shows with youth-driven plots because I wanted to get to know my peers better.

I borrowed copies of Green Day’s Nimrod and The Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream.  I bought my own copy of Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in 7th grade–1998.  I know that’s a few years after the fact, but I was behind in the game, and the kids I loved to hang out with had older siblings that made them listen to their depressing/awesome alternative rock albums.  I was playing catch-up.

My mother and father were delighted about my new found love for music, or at least they pretended to be.  For years, I rode the wave of “alternative” rock and metal.  I loved Korn through high school, secretly through Junior and Senior year when I was in a punk band.  At 12 I had earnestly picked up guitar and learned three Korn albums in their entirety by 14 or 15.

In high school, I quickly learned that no one took you seriously if you listened to Korn. NO ONE.

Metal heads are never taken seriously because they are considered weird and focused on being strange.  This is a notion I still have today.

I had to change, and I did.  Then I changed again in college.

However, the latter was not purposeful in its progress.  It was more organic and without intent.  I listened to things I found interesting and challenging.  In my teens and early twenties, music had become my social crutch.  I used it to become more connected to the people around me.  There wasn’t necessarily a scene that I followed because, in all honesty, large gatherings always frighten me.  However, the fact remains that I used music as a means to an end and not as a leisurely activity.

I feel that a lot of us lose sight of ourselves in the selfish expectations that we create for others to consider when discussing us.  A lot of us create these images in order to fit in but only find ourselves empty down the line.  If we cut the bullshit how much more diverse could our society be?  How much harder could we make it for industry to capture demographics?

And it’s not that I don’t care what people are listening to.  I do.  No matter how much you fight the urge, you still want to peek your head out and see what the others are doing.  You want to remain socially functional in some sense.  This is the behavior that gets me in “trouble” and in possession of the new Dirty Projectors album.  I’m a hypocrite.

Fuck Dirty Projectors,

Dago

PS: Go Texans! 5 – 3, baby!

Motto: “Allerheiligen Jam”

Anwesende: Thomas

Heute ist Allerheiligen, und gestern war NICHT Halloween! Halloween gibt es nicht! Und aus!

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Musca de: Victor Feldman, Chet Baker & Stan Getz, Jimmy Smith, Duke Pearson, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Ray Bryant, Paul Chambers, Henri Mancini, Blue Mitchell, Fatty George

Motto: “Hypnose und Hyperraum”

Anwesende: Wolfi (wählt mich!), Thomas

Über den Klon von Elvis lässt sich streiten. Aber wir streiten doch nicht, wir sind ganz brav.

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Musik von: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Fats Domino, Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, Bonsai Garden Orchester, Dirty Dozen Brass band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chet Baker & Stan Getz, Lofi Boheme, Dinah Washington

O Verve Music Group anunciou o lançamento do Verve Select, selo especializado em edições limitadas, deluxe box sets, reedições de álbuns clássicos e gravações inéditas.

Box sets de Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, e Oscar Peterson são os lançamentos inicias, e títulos de Clifford Brown, Stan Getz, Nat King Cole, e Dinah Washington serão os próximos à serem incluídos no Verve Select.

Mais informações em vervemusicgroup.com.

I hate mosquitoes.

That might seem like an odd way to begin a post on a music blog. It also might seem to be out of season, since this is October and everybody knows mosquitoes are Summer critters, right? Wrong. I just got bit by one, adding yet another chapter to my lifelong love/hate relationship. (I hate them with a passion — they love to suck my blood.)

I try to walk for exercise every day, and even though I have a treadmill for use during bad weather I’d much rather do my walking outside in the fresh air, listening to my little MP3 player as I go. But during late Summer that means there are mosquitoes around, and they’ll always find me. Even if I spray insect repellent all over myself, they’ll find the spots I’ve missed and nail me faster than Brett Favre can change teams. Maybe they consider the repellent to be something like hot sauce on buffalo wings — they just slurp it off and dive in.

And here’s something else — why are these guys biting people during the day? It seems to me that mosquitoes used to be something that came out only at night, like vampires. I know these are tough times but is the competition for plasma so fierce now that some of the overachievers have to risk sunlight to get the jump on their peers? Will vampires soon be doing the same?

I thought I’d be safe today. After all, it’s October and the temperatures have dropped into the thirties at night, which should kill them off. Just my luck — the last mosquito of the Summer found me just before it died. Why should I be surprised?

Stan Getz – “Mosquito Knees”

Amazing big band! Jazz buffs will recognize a young Stan Getz and Shorty Rodgers.

Songs to Kick Off An Eclectic Radio Show With

Light Up the Night – The Protomen
Get Older – Dan Deacon
Inside -14 Iced Bears
You Call It Love – Angry Angles
Another Sunny Day – Anorak City
Day at the Shrine – The Barbaras
Throw Aggi Off the Bridge – Black Tambourine
Our Secrets – Beat Happening
Mr. Wilson – Optiganally Yours
Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above – CSS
Chuck Berry Holiday – Nobunny
Gum – Cornelius
My Pal Foot Foot – The Shaggs
Corcovado – Stan Getz/João Gilberto
Toi Que Je Veux – France Gall
Swordfishtrombone – Tom Waits

Really, really quiet jazz to chill out to: Miles, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins & more. (1h13m38s)

Click here or the album art to download.

This is an M4A file that when played through iTunes, is capable of forwarding to the next chapter (song). Look for the ‘Chapters’ tab at the top of the player when playing. These files will play in all iPods. You may also convert it to a single mp3 file within iTunes by going to the ‘Advanced’ tab at the top of the player and selecting ‘Create MP3 Version.’ You may also subscribe to this blog by clicking on the ‘Entries RSS’ and using an aggregator (feed reader, such as Google Reader) to get notifications sent to you whenever a new post is made.

Nesta última parte da saga “Bossa Nova” é preciso – vital seria a palavra, falar da música “Garota de Ipanema”. Segundo uma das muitas lendas da Bossa Nova, e segundo nos conta Ruy Castro em Chega de Saudade: A história e as histórias da Bossa Nova, o maior show deste estilo musical ocorreu em 1962, na Boate (na época o nome Boate, ainda não era pejorativo) Au Bom Gourmet. Estavam presentes, cantando juntos, nada mais nada menos que: Tom, Vinícius e João Gilberto. E com a participação especial do grupo vocal “Os Cariocas” foi cantada e tocada pela primeira vez a música que é hoje uma das cinco mais tocada em toda a história: Garota de Ipanema. Mas antes dos versos imortais, que –arrisco dizer, é conhecido por 9 em cada 10 brasileiros, existia uma primeira versão que dá para ter uma ideia de com seria colocando a tão famosa melodia:

Vinha cansado de tudo / De tantos caminhos / Tão sem poesia / Tão sem passarinhos / Com medo da vida / Com medo de amar

Quando na tarde vazia / Tão linda no espaço / Eu vi a menina / Que vinha num passo / Cheio de balanço / Caminho do mar

Contudo a versão cantada, naquela noite célebre, foi a que conhecemos hoje e que o mundo ouve. Digo o mundo, pois no ano 1990, uma grande gravadora encomendou um levantamento sobre as músicas mais tocadas do século. Em primeiro lugar veio Yesterday dos Beatles. Somando as canções de Jobim, ele só perde para os quatro garotos de Liverpol. Sobre o fato Tom teria dito: Tá, tudo bem, mas eles são 4 e cantam em inglês.

O fato é a Bossa Nova logrou um sucesso imenso no Brasil, mas nada comparado ao que ocorreu fora do país, principalmente nos Estado Unidos, berço do jazz, que como eu disse no segundo post, é o pai da Bossa – sendo a mãe o samba, ou vice-versa.

No ano do show do trio maior da Bossa, houve também a coroação da Bossa no famoso Carnegie Hall, em Nova Iorque. No ano seguinte João Gilberto colhia os frutos deste show. No mês de março, sob a batuta do maestro Jobim, João gravou aquele que é considerado um dos maiores discos de todos os tempos Getz/Gilberto. Com 2 milhões de cópias vendidas em seu lançamento. Isto posto o passo seguinte eram as premiações e foi isso que ocorreu, em 1965 o disco arrebatou vários Grammys, entre eles o de álbum e de música do ano por “The Girl from Ipanema”. Foi exatamente nesta música que o produtor Creed Taylor, arrancou o vocal de João e deixou apenas o vocal feminino de Astrud Gilberto, esposa de João na época. Há que diga que isso foi o que alavancou as vendas e o deixou comercial.

A Bossa Nova morreu aí em 1965? Não, nem em 1965, nem com a morte dos grandes nomes como: Nara Leão, Tom, Vinicius, Ronaldo Bôscoli, Newton Mendonça, enfim…a Bossa continua, os gringos fazem filas para assistir apresentações de Bebel Gilberto. Nas comemorações de 50 anos de Bossa Nova o show de João Gilberto teve os ingressos esgotados em questão de horas. Além disso, músicas foram imortalizadas: Corcovado, Desafinado; Meditação, Águas de Março, entre outras que ultrapassaram a barreira das mais de 1 milhão de execuções.

Abaixo, um vídeo do Stan Gertz Quartet, tocando (Lucas esse é para você, apenas instrumental), Desafinado e Garota de Ipanema.

(Denis Silva)

Fonte: CASTRO, Ruy. Chega de Saudade: A História e as Histórias da Bossa Nova. Companhia das Letras. São Paulo, 1990.

My good friend Bill Gallagher was lucky enough to know the late pianist Eddie Higgins.  With Eddie’s help, Bill became his discographer as well.  Here is Bill’s beautiful elegy for Eddie:

Eddie Higgins: 2/21/1932 – 8/31/2009

The world of jazz has lost one of its most talented pianists and I have lost a good friend.  Eddie Higgins’ life was brought to an end by complications of lymphatic and lung cancer, an event that seemed to have developed in a matter of a few months.  I had seen Eddie perform in Sacramento in late May, had dinner with him, and he showed no evidence or indication of what was to come in a few brief months.

Eddie was a generous and talented person in so many ways.  He not only played great piano, but he could write well and discuss matters outside of music in ways that were thoughtful and revealing.  Although he could be generous with his time, it took a while to crack the veneer of New England reserve that was part of his persona.  But the effort and the result was worth it.  Underneath was a man who was a gentleman in every sense of the word, a man of taste, a highly developed wit, and one hell of a pianist.

His career was established in Chicago during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s where his longest running gig was a 12 year stint as the resident trio at the London House.  Eddie could play just about anything and with anybody, but he mainly stuck to Mainstream.  He once described Free Jazz as sounding like “a fire in a pet store.” Over the course of a number of years, he played with Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Jack Teagarden, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Al Grey and Eddie South. And that’s just the short list. Other well known piano trios that performed at the London House were intimidated by Eddie’s group. Some of the tales that came out of his London House experience were more than entertaining, such as the one involving Buddy Rich. Buddy was drumming like crazy but the customers were leaving because of the volume. The manager asked Eddie to turn down the amplifiers before everyone had left and Eddie did so – but Buddy caught him at it. Accusations were hurled at Eddie, Buddy drummed louder and threatened to get Eddie after the set. Sure enough, he came after Eddie and Eddie hightailed it into the restroom and locked himself in a stall. Buddy found the locked stall and proceeded to do a limbo under the door while Eddie vaulted over the top of the door and out the building. Later, each would avoid bringing up the event when their paths crossed.

Also during his Chicago years, Eddie was invited by Art Blakey to join his Jazz Messengers. Eddie refused because he had two young children at the time and it wasn’t a good time to go on the road. He also had an offer to become Carmen McRae’s accompanist but he turned down the opportunity for the same reasons and the job went to Norman Simmons. When further pressed for his reasons for turning down Blakey, he said that he didn’t want to be the odd man in the group. Eddie would have been the only white musician, the only non-user and Blakey had a habit of paying his connections before he paid his musicians.

Eddie’s versatility was amazing. During the 70’s he was exposed to some of the early recordings coming out of Brazil and was taken by the new rhythms of the Bossa Nova. Many of his albums include a track or two of a South American composition, but he also produced one of the finest albums of Jobim compositions that exists, “Speaking of Jobim.” If you haven’t heard it, you must.

There will be some who read this who will have no idea who Eddie Higgins was or how brilliantly he played. This won’t surprise me because Eddie traveled in certain jazz circuits and was probably better known in Japan and Korea, where his recordings on the Japanese Venus label are among the top jazz sellers. However, Eddie enjoyed deep respect among fellow musicians who admired him as a consummate professional. So, to those who might say, “Eddie, we hardly knew ye,” I understand. But to those who did know him, he was a national treasure and will be missed more than words can express.

Bill and Eddie at Sacramento

About Eddie: he was one of those rare musicians who can make a melody, apparently unadorned, sing.  Any of his Venus recordings (solo, trio, or quartet) demonstrate that he was someone working beneath the surface of the music, giving himself fully to the song.  I also can testify to his gracious nature: having reviewed a Venus CD in Cadence (I believe it was his quartet with Scott Hamilton) I got a letter from Eddie, thanking me for what I had written in the most perceptive way.  I hope that more people come to his music as the years pass.

Jazz photographer John Herr, another Higgins devotee, captured Eddie at the leyboard during the April 2006 Atlanta Jazz Party:

Eddie’s widow, the singer Meredith D’Ambrosio, sent along this piece on Eddie from the Chicago Tribune – http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-obit-ed-higgins-02sep02,0,1489219.story – a fitting tribute to a man who brought so much music to that city.  We send our condolences to Meredith and to Eddie’s family.  Thanks to Judith Schlesinger, Bill Gallagher, and John Herr.

Since the end of last week, when I wrote my piece on Lester Young, the extent of his enduring appeal has become apparent as various jazz musicians – players of all instruments – have shared their thoughts about this unique character and his enormously influential sound.

Over the next few days, I’ll be adding the memories and impressions of those who met him, who admired him and who were inspired by him, as well as their suggestions for required listening.

DICK HYMAN (piano, US): “When I was playing for Lester Young in Birdland in the 1950s, he amazed me one night by calling Lavender Blue – it was then on the hit parade. It was a really silly sort of song. Its full title was Lavender Blue Dilly-Dilly. It was the most foolish and un-hip thing and to hear Lester Young calling for it, I thought he was joking. But we played it and it worked fine – he knew better than I that the tune had that kind of potential. I would never have guessed it!

“We had a good working relationship, but I can’t say I knew him. Probably few people did. I recently introduced his recordings to a young musician who had never heard them, whom I thought was a little glib and unconcerned with where he was going in his lines. Lester always told a story when he played.

“My own favourite tracks would be any of the very earliest recordings he did with Basie – such as Shoe Shine Boy, Lady Be Good and Lester Leaps In.”

JIM GALLOWAY (saxes, Canada):  “Lester is, of course, one of my all-time favourites and proof that less is more. It’s really difficult to home in on a favourite recording. Favourites in music and art aren’t fixed in stone and vary with one’s frame of mind, but the one that springs to mind today is the 1957 Newport Festival when he guested with the Basie band. On One O’Clock Jump he plays five wonderful choruses with the band swinging like no other band could. He could say so much with only a handful of notes – just as a Matisse drawing could with a few seemingly simple lines.

 JON-ERIK KELLSO (cornet, US):  “I love Lester in all his periods, and consider him one of my biggest musical influences, so it’s not easy for me to pick my favorite tracks. It changes day to day, week to week.

“That said, his Lester Young Trio sides with Nat Cole and Buddy Rich are right up there for me. The chemistry between them is lovely, and Prez really sounds strong and comfy. This setting affords the opportunity for him to ’stretch out’ and ‘tell his story’, as they say.

“I love his creative musical phrases, his pretty tone, his laid-back feel, his swinging beat, and his unorthodox approach (paving a new direction aside from the Hawk disciples, his way of finding the road less traveled, unusual phrase endings and song endings). Plus, he was simply one of the coolest people ever (hell, I think he actually invented “cool” as an expression as we know it!).”

 ALAN BARNES (saxes, UK): “I love Lester Young. In fact, I named my record label, Woodville, after his birthplace. Why? Because he wasn’t just a great musician: he seemed to have an ‘other-wordly’ quality – which has a magic beyond definition and can’t be analysed- and because he changed the music forever. It wouldn’t be how it is without him.”

 SCOTT HAMILTON (tenor sax, US): “Pres was the first tenor sax player I really loved and it’s hard to narrow my favorites down to a few but these ones are my perennial favorites since childhood: Back To The Land (with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich, from 1946), Up ’N Adam (with Hank Jones, Ray Brown & Buddy Rich, 1950), I Can’t Get Started (from Jazz At the Philharmonic, 1946), You Can Depend On Me (with Basie small group, 1939), and Sometimes I’m Happy ( with Johnny Guarnieri, Slam Stewart and Sid Catlett, 1943) is a little masterpiece. “

“I told him that I was over with a British band. He had a high-pitched voice, and he said: ‘Oh yes, I heard you were over with Vic Lewis.’ It was so sad. He had this old dirty raincoat, and there were rumours that he was drinking a lot. I asked if I could buy him a drink, and he said [Wellins sounds like a female impersonator as he mimics Young's voice]: ‘That’s very nice of you.’

“ So we went in and sat down and, of course, as the guys were coming and going up and down in the elevator, they were having a quick look in the lounge and they’d see me, and I’d see this look of disbelief on their faces, and they’d come over and I’d introduce them.

“We sat there for so long. We talked about everything -current affairs, New York. I told him I was too excited to take it all in. ‘Well, you’re only a baby, man,’ he said. He had on his pork-pie hat – he never took it off. That’s what I saw first. I saw the hat, then the tall figure. He didn’t have his saxophone. The next week he was doing a recording, and he invited me along but we were flying back to Britain.

“Most of the people I idolised were the offspring of Lester’s influence, like Stan Getz. I never even asked him [Wellins sounds rueful as he says this] what mouthpiece he used. In retrospect, he was a bit bedraggled.

“People forget about how Lester played earlier in his career. They don’t listen to his solos in the Basie band when he was absolutely tearing around but in that lovely way he had of doing things.”

ALAN BARNES: ”I know Bobby Wellins and Duncan Lamont met him in the early 1950’s on an American tour. Lester got quite a crowd of British musicians around him in the hotel foyer, happily accepting drinks, and made a comment about going upstairs to get ‘he loaves and fishes’ – whatever that means.

“There are plenty of stories about Lester in Dave Gelly’s book - as well as some great insights. He suggests that Lester’s erratic later work – sometimes struggling to get the sound, sometimes brilliant – may have had something to do with the state of his horn. Also, in a book called A Lester Young Reader there’s a lovely essay by Bobby Scott who, as a very young man, spent time with Prez on a Jazz At The Phil tour. They were drawn to each other because they were both outsiders: one for reasons of youth; the other because of not fitting in.

“Lester was quite a character. He hated anyone crippled being on the same flight as him – he felt that the chances of crashing were greater if they were on board – and referred to them as “Johnny Deathbeds”! However, he could be re-assured if a baby was amongst the passengers as he thought the almighty wouldn’t be mean enough …

“He also referred to Pee Wee Marquette, the midget MC of Birdland, who required bribing to pronounce a name correctly, as “Half a Motherf***er” which is pretty good.”

SIR MICHAEL PARKINSON (broadcaster & writer, UK): “Anyone who loves Lester Young and Ben Webster understands the full joy, range and possibility of the tenor sax. They are the gods who define the instrument.”

WARREN VACHE (cornet, US): “Lester Young was one of the most influential musicians to have ever walked the planet. His approach to music was unique, deeply felt and profoundly important. He paid the price for this dedication and talent while he lived, working for small fees, constantly traveling, and suffering many personal disappointments and indignities. In short, he had a miserable time while he was with us and in return for our mistreatment of him and his kind left us some of the most uplifting recordings ever made to sustain us in our daily lives and inspire us to greater heights.

“To reduce his life’s work to ‘your favorite track’, is, in my thinking, to continue the indignity and mistreatment he suffered throughout his life. Lester Young’s music was a gift, the magnitude of which it is clear we don’t fully appreciate or understand even today 100 years after his birth.

“To really appreciate his genius, I suggest you play all of his music, all day long, and do yourself the favor of shutting up, not imposing your own opinions and values, and actually listening. Let the profundity impress upon you what it will. If you learn nothing more than: although Lester Young is dead, his music is certainly alive and well.”