Coleman hawkins

Lester young wife
Lester young cause of death
Lester motormouth sutton live at the pigfoot

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Chasin' the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker has been idolized by generations of jazz musicians and fans. Indeed, his spectacular musical abilities--his blinding speed and brilliant improvisational style--made Parker a legend even before his tragic death at age thirty-four.
Now, in Chasin' The Bird, Brian Priestley offers a marvelous biography of this jazz icon, ranging from his childhood in Kansas City to his final harrowing days in New York. Priestley offers new insight into Parker's career, beginning as a teenager single-mindedly devoted to mastering the saxophone. We follow Parker on his first trip to New York, penniless, washing dishes for $9.00 a week at Jimmy's Chicken Shack, a favorite hangout of the great Art Tatum, whose stunning speed and ingenuity were an influence on the young musician. Priestley sheds light on Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell, Mary Lou Williams, and Thelonious Monk, and he illuminates such classic recordings as "Salt Peanuts" and "A Night in Tunisia" and Parker's own compositions

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Bird Essays

NOTE: Due to limits on the number of characters, this introductory essay is abridged. The complete essays are now available in paperback from Amazon! Now's the Time: 52 Essays on the Occasion of Charlie Parker's Centennial Year is the title. It's illustrated with historic photos related to the subjects at hand, and priced at an affordable $9.99. Search for "now's the time 52" and it should come right up. It makes the perfect gift for jazz lovers everywhere!

Charlie Parker's hundredth birthday has come and gone, and what have we learned? Various recordings were reissued, obligatory articles were written, and a graphic novel was published. But the standard narrative didn't change. We were still told that Bird's life was a tragic, chaotic waste that resulted, inexplicably, in supremely beautiful music.

This narrative never sat well with me, and, in the course of writing these weekly essays, I became increasingly dismissive of it. Thanks to Bird's many biographers, the basic facts are beyond dispute. It's the interpretation that could stand more s

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Lester Young

(August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959)

AKA
"Pres," "Prez"

Tenor saxophonist Lester Willis Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi. He rose to become one of the most important musical voices in jazz history, and features in the Alto Saxophone Tree of Lineage because of his impact on Charlie Parker.

Lester grew up in a musical family. His father was a teacher and band leader. By the time he was ten, he had learned the basics of the trumpet, violin, and drums, and joined the Young Family Band touring with carnivals and playing in regional cities in the Southwest. Young's early musical influences included Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy Dorsey, and Frankie Trumbauer.

In 1933, Young settled in Kansas City, where after playing briefly in several bands, he rose to prominence with Count Basie. Together they recorded The Kansas City Sessions as part of the group The Kansas City Seven;

Buck Clayton - trumpet
Dicky Wells - trombone
Lester Young - tenor saxophone
Count Basie - piano
Freddie Green - guitar
Rodney Richardson - bass
'Papa' Jo Jones - dr