Lester Young - The Kansas City Sessions

Though known as the "Kansas City sessions," Milt Gabler taped these proceedings in New York City for his Commodore label. The musicians, however, represented the soul of the Kansas City influx. The first 10 tracks--five tunes with one alternate each--come from September 1938 and feature a group drawn from the Count Basie Orchestra's ranks. It's the great Basie rhythm section of bassist Walter Page, drummer Jo Jones, and rhythm guitarist Freddie Green (who also sings on "Them There Eyes"), with a frontline of Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, and Eddie Durham, who's heard far more prominently on electric guitar than trombone. A master of half-valve smears, Clayton sounds superb, whether elegantly muted or expressively open, but it's Young who will rivet a listener's attention, both on tenor sax or playing clarinet with a strikingly original sound and conception.

Young's clarinet virtually defines the sonority of later "cool" alto saxophonists like Lee Konitz and Paul Desmond, and the blend with the transparent textures of the two guitars is particularly advanced. The second session is by a very different Kansas City Six from 1944, with Young and Jones the only returning members. It's a far more conventional setting, with trumpeter Bill Coleman and trombonist Dicky Wells competing in brashness and pianist Joe Bushkin in place of the guitars. The sometimes aggressive cast to the band only highlights Young's superbly relaxed phrasing. His opening solos on the three takes of "I Got Rhythm" are textbook example of relaxed swing, and their inspiration to Wells is apparent in his solos that follow. The CD concludes with four tracks by the Kansas City Five from March 1938, the earliest session here. It's the first Kansas City Six without Young present, still well worth hearing for the superb play of Clayton, Durham, and the rhythm section. --Stuart Broomer Amazon.com

Eddie Durham is not "out of place"...

To the reviewer below who thought Durham's guitar "work" (as he put it) was out of place, I say step back and listen carefully. Durham was working in a new medium, and carefully chose his notes. In fact, I would say that his playing is some of the best of that era: tasteful, emotional, and completely aware of the importance of every individual note. Hmmm, kind of sounds like Young himself, huh?

Anyway, this is a great record, not just for the historical significance, but just because it is a great swinging record. I can't get enough of it.

p.s. BTW, Mr. Thomas, Wanna County was a double bass player. Bob Dunn, the lap steel guitar player, was the first to record an amplified instrument. The first to amplify an instrument, as far as I can determine, was Durham. August 25, 2007

not Prez's best

historically important, but not necessarily my favorite; Lester Young recorded much greater music, both with Basie and on his own, later..Buck Clayton is in good form; Jo Jones sounds great, it's good to be reminded how great Walter Page could be; the two takes of
"Pagin' the Devil" are extraordinary. And Freddie Green, of all people, sings, and very nicely. but Eddie Durham's trombone playing is annoying, frankly; though, again, it's extraordinary to hear Durham's electric guitar work, before Charlie Christian got rolling. February 25, 2006

History on CD, fun, joy what music is for Now and Then

This is a historic session, I am talking about the 1938 set. One thing here is that this about the first, if not the first Jazz recording, and among the first ever recordings to feature an electric 6 string standard guitar, or an electric guitar as we say in English (all that other stuff is just for certain record keepers i dialog with who claim wanna county amplified Hawaiian guitars). This is loose and mellow, a jam session of the finest kind, made for a record shop label that back in that day was only going to be discovered by the hippest of the hip, musicians and their true lovers.

Lester is superb and more understated and relaxed than on Basie tracks from the same period. The clarinet playing is a gem. Lester complained that Basie tried to minimize clarinet playing by himself and Herschel Evans, the band's soloists on the sax, although they trade clarinet solos on some of the Decca Sides, Jumpin' at the Woodside and Texas Shuffle, I think.
Lester played clarinet wonderfully all the way to his clarinet blues on his last Verve session when he was too weak to lift the tenor.

Getting back to this CD, what is also outstanding here is the rhythm. We have the Basie's All-American rhythm session without Basie for contractual reasons--Freddie Green, Joe Jones, and the great Walter Page. They are augmented here and there by Eddie Durham's electric guitar that comes back into rhythm mode when he is not soloing. (Eddie had been playing solos on a National steel guitar in the Moten, Lunceford, and Basie bands until he went electric. He passed the idea of playing electric lead guitar on to a young former drummer he had known in Oklahoma and convinced to switch to guitar. The man's name was Charlie Christian!)

Everything is the quintessence of swing, where how the band rides the rhythm and dances with it and the rhythm dances back with them is more important than the excellent solos and the not bad mellow singing Mr. Clayton contributes.

The 1944 sides are part of the great work that Lester recorded in small group settings in the mid 1940s including some with Basie sitting in on piano that are attributed and a few where it is obvious Basie is playing piano even if the liner notes claim otherwise. They swing and jumb and move, but there is nothing else that really relates them to these sessions other than Lester and the name.

If you like this music, check out the newest multi CD version of the Spirtuals to Swing Concerts. It seems that a number of the cuts that John Hammond put on the original LP and Tape releases of the "concerts" were really from similar small group sessions of Basieites he recorded in 1938 and faked onto the concert records together with introductions by Hammond with Hammond's voice sped up to sound higher and younger. The new edition removes them from the concerts, but includes the whole batch, about 6 or 7 songs, as a separate heading that swings just like these sides.

Thank goodness for the record shop owner who wanted to put these sides out. February 13, 2004

OK - now I've heard the extra material- what a difference

In my last review on this LP (not CD), I mentioned that there were extra tracks on the CD that Commodore left out of the LP. What a crime. All of them are minus Eddie Durham and with the Kansas City Six - 8 more tracks in all, and all top shelf. I still don't go for the Eddie Durham stuff, as good as the surrounding band is, but these 8 tracks could comprise a CD all on their own. I got hoodwinked by Commodore in 1979 with the LP. Shame on them! How dare they leave out the best stuff. The LP, by the way, was called "Lester Young". An extra star for the CD. September 3, 2003

I'm fascinated with these 5-star ratings here

Hey - there are great moments here - such as Lester playing clarinet, and playing the hell out of it: BUT BUYER BEWARE...the Kansas City Five sessions Do NOT even have Prez on them! That's right. Commodore Records released this as an LP in 1979, and while many tracks are in fact really well recorded, and Buck and Lester, and Freddie play great, many of the tunes are marred by Eddie Durham's totally out-of-place electric guitar "work". That's why there are so many alternate takes - and he never does get them right. How frustrating! "Good Mornin' Blues", "Laughing at Life", "I Know That You Know", and "Love Me or leave Me" are all minus Lester - now that is simply unacceptable when the CD is titled Lester Young. They do include some other tracks not on the original LP...they better, to make up for the lack of Prez on the others. There are some great moments here, but you really need to preview them. Maybe you'll like Eddie durham's quirky playing, but it ruins an otherwise wonderful line-up for me. August 30, 2003

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