Being Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young

Lester Young (1909-1959) was one of the great jazz masters, whose tenor saxophone playing brought new levels of expressiveness and subtlety to the jazz language. Many of his recordings - with Billie Holiday, as a member of Count Basie’s band, and under his own name - are numbered among the finest examples of the art. The book follows Lester Young through his life in a rapidly changing world, showing how the music of this exceptionally sensitive man was affected by his experiences. The author, a musician himself, examines many of Lester’s classic recordings in illuminating but non-technical detail.