Several new biographies of Lester Young have been published in the years since Lewis Porter's Lester Young first appeared, but none have supplanted or even attempted the in-depth study that Porter brings to his subject's music. With the same care and scholarship that characterized his John Coltrane, Porter analyses the music that made Lester Young "the most original tenor sax in jazz."

In addition to helping us understand Lester Young's playing and stylistic evolution, Porter's analysis demonstrates that Young's playing at the end of his career did not mark a serious decline over his earlier style, as many critics have claimed.

This revised edition has a new preface and an expanded discography by the author.

CONTENTS:
1. "It Was All Music"
2. Lester Leaps In
3. "Everybody Plays the Blues"
4. "I Try Not to Be A Repeater Pencil"
5. "That's Modern, Dig?"
6. Pres Returns

LEWIS PORTER is the Professor of Music and director of the M.A. Program in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University. His book John Coltrane: His Life and Music won the 1999 Jazz Research Award from the Association of Recorded Sound Collections.

back to previous page

back to previous page