Take 5 With Lester Young With Count Basie

For this installment of Take 5, we have a brief playlist of Lester Young, the great tenor saxophonist who was not merely a great tenor saxophone stylist, but also a significant influence on saxophonists who came after him. This is limited to his early sides with Count Basie. First up is Lester Young as part of the Jones-Smith Five date for Vocalion with Count Basie on piano, Young on Tenor sax, Carl Smith on trumpet, Walter Page on bass, and Jo Jones on drums. The song is "Lady Be Good."

The original "Boogie Woogie" was recorded at the Jones-Smith date. Here it is done by the full Basie Band with Jimmy Rushing handling the vocal as he did on the original. Besides his brief intro and obligattos, Prez takes a simply sublime solo. Incidentally, this number would be performed by a variety of Jump Blues acts, including Wyonnie Harris and Roy Milton. Redd Foxx's "Shame on You" is musically a cover, although Foxx's recording has different lyrics. Chicago blues pianist Little Johnnie Jones also recorded this with Elmore James on guitar.

There are so many Count Basie recordings that one can choose. "Taxi War Dance" is an outstanding one.

Young is, of course, featured on some of the Basie classics, including "Jumping at the Woodside." Herschel Evans is the clarinetist on this track.

Finally, here is the original recording of his blues that became a jazz standard, "Lester Leaps In."

I will be posting some of Lester Young's recordings backing Billie Holiday in a few weeks.