Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool …

Mar 11, 2025 · Lester Young was an American tenor saxophonist who emerged in the mid-1930s Kansas City, Mo., jazz world with the Count Basie band and introduced an approach to improvisation that provided much of the basis for modern jazz solo conception. Young’s tone was a striking departure from the accepted

Lester Willis Young was a famous jazz saxophonist born in Woodville, Mississippi on August 27, 1909. He belonged to a musically accomplished family. His father was a teacher who taught Young to play the trumpet, violin, drums and the saxophone, and his brother was a drummer.

Lester Young’s parents lived in Algiers, New Orleans, but when his mother should give birth to Lester, she moved to her parents in the little town Woodville in the South-West corner of Mississippi where Lester Willis Young was born august 27, 1909. Back in Algiers, Lester grew up in very musical surroundings.

Lester's brother Lee Young was a drummer, and several other relatives played music professionally. The Young family moved to New Orleans when Lester was an infant and later to Minneapolis. His father taught him to play trumpet, violin, and drums in addition to the saxophone. He played in his family's band in both the vaudeville and carnival ...

Aug 27, 2009 · Lester Willis Young was born in Woodville, Miss., on Aug. 27, 1909. His father Willis played several instruments and taught all of his children to play. When he was 18, Lester left the family ...

May 17, 2018 · Lester Young. Saxophonist. For the Record …. Selected discography. Sources. Saxophonist Lester Young had one of the memorable styles in twentieth-century jazz. Prez, or the President, as Young was nicknamed by singer Billie Holiday, played a spare and cerebral saxophone, though often a melancholy one.His tenor sax technique counterbalanced his peer …

Mar 17, 2019 · Lester Young was born on August 27, 1909 and died March 15, 1959. Known as Prez or Pres (short for President, a nickname Billie Holiday gave him), the tenor saxophonist was famous for his cool and airy relaxed style that modernized the tenor saxophone. Instead of improvising with an aggressive, vertical chopping approach, his sound was more ...

Aug 26, 2020 · Lester Young was a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist from Woodville, Mississippi who accompanied and played with some of jazz's biggest acts.

Lester Young “It was like the horn only became a transmitter through which the soul of Lester Young was expressed…When he’d still be up to play I would look around, and people would slow down so they could listen, because everybody realized then, even the people who didn’t really pay that close attention to details as far as the music was concerned, everybody seemed to sense …