
Lester’s Dream
The Lester Young Band, 1941, Kelly’s Stables, NYC Is there any point in asking a question that can never be answered? The question in question is this: why did Lester Young’s style change suddenly and dramatically in 1942? It can never be answered because Lester never addressed it directly, leaving only hints, and few of those. Absent definitive answers, all I have to offer is the story of my attempts to understand this stylistic change. Whatever value this may have rests on the fact that I’ve been chewing over the evidence for a long, long time. * … Continue reading Lester’s Dream