小简介
Lester Young和Coleman Hawkins同一时期的伟大萨克斯风手，他们彼此风格回异，不过他们都是众多学萨克斯风的人想要模仿的对象，在John Coltrane成名之前，Lester Young 是最受重视的萨克斯风手。他的乐音绵密，音质甜美，结尾总是缓慢而充满感性的语句，虽然早期的音乐生涯，他的萨克斯风被批评为太柔弱，但时间证明他可以在乐坛里占有重要的地位。
他出生于一个音乐家庭，父亲是乐队的领班，童年时期在纽奥尔良度过，小的时候学过小提琴、小号和鼓，13岁时学吹萨克斯风。1927年时，有一次父亲想要带兄妹三人到南美旅行表演，却被Lester Young拒绝，于是他离开家庭，而是和Art Bronson的Bostonians 乐队去表演。1929年短暂的回到父亲的乐团演奏。
1930年时在Walter Page的Blue Devils乐队演奏。1931年加入Eddie Barefield 的乐队。1932-33年加入Blue Devils 乐团。1934年加入Count Basie的大乐团，不久之后加入Fletcher Henderson的乐团，在这里取代Coleman Hawkins的位置，但是也只有三个半月的时间。1936年时再度加入Count Basie的大乐团，也开始和传奇的女歌手Billie Holiday有一连串的演出，也有很多经典专辑的录音。44年时加入美国陆军服役，服役的生活切断了音乐生涯，入伍对他是很不愉快的经验，因此藉由抽大麻来解苦闷，但却被因此被军事法庭判刑16个月。
by Scott Yanow
Lester Young was one of the true jazz giants, a tenor saxophonist who came up with a completely different conception in which to play his horn, floating over bar lines with a light tone rather than adopting Coleman Hawkins then-dominant forceful approach. A non-conformist, Young (nicknamed Pres by Billie Holiday) had the ironic experience in the 1950s of hearing many young tenors try to sound exactly like him.
Although he spent his earliest days near New Orleans, Lester Young lived in Minneapolis by 1920, playing in a legendary family band. He studied violin, trumpet, and drums, starting on alto at age 13. Because he refused to tour in the South, Young left home in 1927 and instead toured with Art Bronsons Bostonians, switching to tenor. He was back with the family band in 1929 and then freelanced for a few years, playing with Walter Pages Blue Devils (1930), Eddie Barefield in 1931, back with the Blue Devils during 1932-1933, and Bennie Moten and King Oliver (both 1933). He was with Count Basie for the first time in 1934 but left to replace Coleman Hawkins with Fletcher Henderson. Unfortunately, it was expected that Young would try to emulate Hawk, and his laid-back sound angered Hendersons sidemen, resulting in Pres not lasting long. After a tour with Andy Kirk and a few brief jobs, Lester Young was back with Basie in 1936, just in time to star with the band as they headed East. Young made history during his years with Basie, not only participating on Counts record dates but starring with Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson on a series of classic small-group sessions. In addition, on his rare recordings on clarinet with Basie and the Kansas City Six, Young displayed a very original cool sound that almost sounded like altoist Paul Desmond in the 1950s. After leaving Count in 1940, Youngs career became a bit aimless, not capitalizing on his fame in the jazz world. He co-led a low-profile band with his brother, drummer Lee Young, in Los Angeles until re-joining Basie in December 1943. Young had a happy nine months back with the band, recorded a memorable quartet session with bassist Slam Stewart, and starred in the short film Jammin the Blues before he was drafted. His experiences dealing with racism in the military were horrifying, affecting his mental state of mind for the remainder of his life.
Although many critics have written that Lester Young never sounded as good after getting out of the military, despite erratic health he actually was at his prime in the mid- to late-40s. He toured (and was well paid by Norman Granz) with Jazz at the Philharmonic on and off through the 40s and 50s, made a wonderful series of recordings for Aladdin, and worked steadily as a single. Young also adopted his style well to bebop (which he had helped pave the way for in the 1930s). But mentally he was suffering, building a wall between himself and the outside world, and inventing his own colorful vocabulary. Although many of his recordings in the 1950s were excellent (showing a greater emotional depth than in his earlier days), Young was bothered by the fact that some of his white imitators were making much more money than he was. He drank huge amounts of liquor and nearly stopped eating, with predictable results. 1956s Jazz Giants album found him in peak form as did a well documented engagement in Washington, D.C., with a quartet and a last reunion with Count Basie at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. But, for the 1957 telecast The Sound of Jazz, Young mostly played sitting down (although he stole the show with an emotional one-chorus blues solo played to Billie Holiday). After becoming ill in Paris in early 1959, Lester Young came home and essentially drank himself to death. Many decades after his death, Pres is still considered (along with Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane) one of the three most important tenor saxophonists of all time.