Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Lester Young

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Lester Young

ASIN: B000050I3V

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
First coming to prominence with Count Basie's band in 1936, Lester Young defined a new way to play tenor saxophone, with a soft, airy sound and an understated beat. In the process, he was also creating a new way to play jazz, with a flowing, melodic inventiveness and a detachment that would influence the bop and cool schools to come. Young did much of his best work as a sideman in the first few years of his public career, and the first 13 tracks of this collection focus on his work up to 1940. Basie's hard-swinging big band was a terrific foil for Young's own novel blend of rhythmic invention and an almost languid sound, heard here on tunes like "Taxi War Dance" and the uptempo "Twelfth Street Rag." With Basie's smaller Kansas City Seven, Young created masterpieces like his signature "Lester Leaps In." Young and his friend Billie Holiday shared an uncanny musical empathy, represented by four tracks here. There's also a sampling of Young's later recordings, including his trio version of "I've Found a New Baby," with Nat Cole on piano and Buddy Rich on drums, and "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" from a 1957 reunion with Basie at the Newport Jazz Festival. --Stuart Broomer

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Lester Young,Lester Young,Polygram Records,Big Band,Cool,Jazz,Jazz Music,Mainstream Jazz,Pop,Standards,Swing

Average customer rating:

Great Music Ruined By Poor Sound Quality

Terrible sound and unacceptable noise ruins great music

Ruined by noise.

Founding father

Come on people...

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Lester Young
Lester Young
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Styles | Music
Swing General | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Contemporary Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000050I3V
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Tracks:

Oh, Lady, Be Good!
Every Tub (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
Honeysuckle Rose (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
Pagin' The Devil (with the Kansas City Six)
A Sailboat In The Moonlight (with Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra)
He's Funny That Way (with Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra)
Getting Some Fun Out Of Life (with Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra)
If Dreams Come True (with Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra)
Taxi War Dance (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
Twelfth Street Rag (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
Lester Leaps In (with Count Basie's Kansas City Seven)
Tickle Toe (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)
Sometimes I'm Happy
I've Found A New Baby
D.B. Blues
Jumpin' With Smyphony Sid
This Year's Kisses
Polka Dots and Moonbeams (with Count Basie & His Orchestra)

Amazon.com

First coming to prominence with Count Basie's band in 1936, Lester Young defined a new way to play tenor saxophone, with a soft, airy sound and an understated beat. In the process, he was also creating a new way to play jazz, with a flowing, melodic inventiveness and a detachment that would influence the bop and cool schools to come. Young did much of his best work as a sideman in the first few years of his public career, and the first 13 tracks of this collection focus on his work up to 1940. Basie's hard-swinging big band was a terrific foil for Young's own novel blend of rhythmic invention and an almost languid sound, heard here on tunes like "Taxi War Dance" and the uptempo "Twelfth Street Rag." With Basie's smaller Kansas City Seven, Young created masterpieces like his signature "Lester Leaps In." Young and his friend Billie Holiday shared an uncanny musical empathy, represented by four tracks here. There's also a sampling of Young's later recordings, including his trio version of "I've Found a New Baby," with Nat Cole on piano and Buddy Rich on drums, and "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" from a 1957 reunion with Basie at the Newport Jazz Festival. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Great Music Ruined By Poor Sound Quality.......2005-08-25

The music on this collection is great for an introduction to Lester Young, but unfortunately there seems to have been no effort taken to remaster the cuts here and everything sounds as if you were playing it on the original 78s. I know some people say you can't give this disc a low rating due to the fact that these are recordings from the 30's and 40's. Well, I say you can when there are other discs out there of the same material with sound quality that is far superior to what is offered here. If you want a good introductory disc of Pres that has a lot of material and is not too expensive check out the album "Lester Young: From A Cool Perspective." You get over 40 songs on two discs for around $17 and the sound quality is excellent on all the cuts, especially by 1930's and 40's standards.

Terrible sound and unacceptable noise ruins great music.......2005-01-31

This is the worst sounding CD I've ever heard. And I own hundreds of CDs of music from this era. Obviously Ken Burns rushed this product to market to cash in on his PBS series, without spending any time or money to find the best sources for this music, or to digitally clean up the sound. You will find much better sounding collections of this music on other CD reissues of music by Lester Young, Count Basie, and Billie Holiday. I have some of this same music on old scratched up vinyl LPs and those stll sound much better than this messed up disc. Obvoid this disc at all costs, but do search out this music elsewhere. These tunes are monumental achievements in the history of jazz. Too bad Ken Burns was content to put out such a horrible sounding product.

Ruined by noise........2004-10-07

I own many CDs of 30s and 40s jazz. Usually the sound has been cleaned up nicely, so you can concentrate on the music. This one is so scratchy, it's hard to listen to. Pity, because the music is terrific and plentyful. Yet, because of the noise, I recommend buying something else (Verve's Jazz Masters #30 is nice, for example).

Founding father.......2003-05-11

The sound is not that bad really, there is some hiss, but nothing out of this world, its listenable. If you are not used to the sound of old 30's 40's recordings, it may sound rough at first. Charlie Parker once said to have leraned some of Lester solos note sby note, and when you hear Lester, you can certainly hera a lot of what Bird later developed. But Lester is undoubtely one of the originals and a giant in jazz.

Come on people..........2002-11-15

Darn those old recordings! Yeah folks they have hiss. If there are better masters out there as some have contended, then they should have been used for this pressing. However, to knock this disc and give it one or two stars because of sound quality is ridiculous. First of all, the tunes are all great! Just think of the hiss as adding atmosphere to the listening experience. I am new to Lester Young, but I refuse to be too hard on a collection that culls most of its material from the 1930's! Get realistic people.

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