Lester Young And His Tenor Sax Volume 1 (Aladdin LP 801)

1. D.B. Blues
2. Lester Blows Again
3. These Foolish Things
4. Jumpin' At Mesner's
5. It's Only A Paper Moon
6. After You've Gone
7. Lover Come Back To Me
8. Jammin' With Lester
9. You're Driving Me Crazy
10. New Lester Leaps In
11. She's Funny That Way
12. Lester's Be Bop Boogie
13. S.M. Blues

Album released in October 1956. All tracks recorded in 1945/46 and originally released as 78 rpm singles in 1946/47.

A post for those who worship at the Altar of the Pork Pie Hat. As promised a mere 9 months ago here is the fourth tenor sax player in the Aladdin series of LPs “…And His Tenor Sax” – Lester Young. Back in October 2009 I posted versions of the other 3 LPs in this series by Lynn Hope, Illinois Jacquet and Maxwell Davis. I put out a plea for help in locating suitable artwork and received quite a few replies. So a special thank you goes out to R, Sleepy Cactus Slim, jaybird 69, bigtone, and also to Joan for an EP cover scan.

All tracks in this reconstitution of the 1956 LP “Lester Young and his Tenor Sax Volume 1” have been ripped from vinyl, so although I’ve managed to eliminate the louder clicks and pops, there is still some surface noise audible. “It’s Only a Paper Moon” was ripped from a particularly well worn slab of wax but thanks to the wonders of Magix Audio Cleaning Lab I’ve managed to eliminate the worst of the crackling and hissing.

Like the other albums in this series, this LP was issued and reissued in various forms over the years. It was first issued in 1954 as "Lester Young and his Tenor Sax" - a 10 inch LP (Aladdin LP-706) with only 8 tracks. See below for front and back covers and a label scan of this issue:

In October 1956 the album presented in this post was issued as a 12 inch LP with 13 tracks (Aladdin LP-801). Volume 2 (Aladdin LP-802) which also had 13 tracks was released at the same time. See below for cover scans:

Tracks from the above two LPs were also issued on 3 EPs – Aladdin EPs 502, 503 and 513. See below for Joan’s EP 503 scan:

In 1957 the two LPs were reissued with different titles and covers on Aladdin’s jazz/pop subsidiary Intro. Volume 1 became “Swinging Lester Young” (LP-602) and Volume 2 became “The Great Lester Young” (LP-603). In 1958 they were reissued on the Aladdin budget subsidiary Score (as SLP-4028 and SLP-4029) with the same covers and titles as the Intro issues. See below for Score cover scans:

Subsequent releases of Lester Young Aladdin material on Imperial in the early 1960s were on two LPs (as two volumes of “The Great Lester Young”) with different tracks and covers.


Back in the day with Basie

Ripped from crackly vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/405313666/Lester_Young_And_His_Tenor_Sax.rar.html

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YRXQNOZ4

Session Details

Los Angeles, December 1945 -
Lester Young and his Band : Vic Dickenson (tb-1, 2, 4) Lester Young (ts) Dodo Marmarosa (p) Red Callender (b) Henry Tucker (d):

1. D.B. Blues (Philo123)
2. Lester Blows Again (Philo123)
3. These Foolish Things (Philo124)
4. Jumpin' At Mesner's (Philo124)

Los Angeles, January 1946 –
Lester Young and his Band : Howard McGhee (tp- 5, 7, 8) Vic Dickenson (tb-5, 7, 8) Willie Smith (as) Lester Young (ts) Wesley Jones (p) Curtis Counce (b) Johnny Otis (d):

5. It's Only A Paper Moon (Aladdin 127)
6. After You've Gone (Aladdin 127)
7. Lover Come Back To Me (Aladdin 128)
8. Jammin' With Lester (Aladdin 128)

Los Angeles, August 1946 –
Lester Young and his Band : Lester Young (ts) Joe Albany (p) Irving Ashby (el-g) Red Callender (b) Chico Hamilton (d):

9. You're Driving Me Crazy (Aladdin 137)
10. New Lester Leaps In (Aladdin 137)
11. She's Funny That Way (Aladdin 138)
12. Lester's Be Bop Boogie (Aladdin 138)

Chicago, October 1946 –
Lester Young and his Band : Shorty McConnell (tp) Lester Young (ts) Argonne Thornton (p) Fred Lacey (g) Rodney Richardson (b) Lyndell Marshall (d):

13. S.M. Blues (Aladdin 162)

Recommended purchase:

Blue Note CDP 7243 8 32787 2 5:
The Complete Aladdin Recordings Of Lester Young -
A 2CD set with 40 tracks which include 4 sides recorded for Van with Nat “King” Cole and Red Callender in 1942 and a 6 track December 1945 session with Helen Humes. Liner notes by Leonard Feather.

Available as a 2 CD set at mid-price or as an Amazon mp3 download at a very low price. I would go for the CD!

Listen to "It's Only A Paper Moon" -