Quotes About Lester Young

Once I made the mistake of saying I enjoyed listening to Lester Young over Charlie Parker, which solicited the response: "What the hell do you know?" It was true, I only knew what I liked, but in the often too-serious jazz scene, it seems what one likes isn't valid unless backed up by a twenty-page dissertation. That attitude probably accounts for a certain percentage of jazz enthusiasts who are pedantic bores.

When I was 16 or 17 I heard the Count Basie band with Jo Jones and Lester Young and Herschel Evans and I couldn't believe it. They were the greatest swing band. I really fell in love with that sound. Everybody danced!

I've been listening to jazzmen, especially saxophonists, since the time of the early Count Basie records, which featured Lester Young. Pres was my first real influence, but the first horn I got was an alto, not a tenor.

In some ways Lester Young is the most complex rhythmically of any musician. He does some things which are just phenomenal.