Leslie Johnson (June 20, 1933 – August 22, 2018),
better known as Lazy Lester, was an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
musician who sang and played the harmonica and guitar. In a career spanning the 1950s to 2018, he pioneered
swamp blues
Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertatio ...
,
and also played
harmonica blues
The Richter-tuned harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica (in Asia) or blues harp (in America), is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes (10 holes times a draw a ...
,
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
and
Louisiana blues.
Best known for regional hits recorded with Ernie Young's
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
-based
Excello Records Excello Records was an American blues independent record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label.
History
It recorded such artists as Lonnie Brooks, Lightnin' Slim ...
, Lester also contributed to songs recorded by other Excello artists, including
Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo (born James Isaac Moore; January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spiri ...
,
Lightnin' Slim
Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records. The blues critic ED Denson ranked him as one of the five great bl ...
, and
Katie Webster
Katie Webster (January 11, 1936 – September 5, 1999), born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist.
Career
Webster was initially best known as a session musician behind Louisiana musicians on the Excello and Goldband rec ...
. Cover versions of his songs have been recorded by (among others) the
Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...
, the
Flamin' Groovies
Flamin' Groovies is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965, originally co-led by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. After the Groovies released three albums, on Epic ('' Supersnazz'') and Kama Sutra (''Flamingo'' and '' Teenage Head' ...
,
Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was bes ...
,
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album '' Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerab ...
,
Dave Edmunds
David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has alwa ...
,
Raful Neal
Raful Neal (June 6, 1936 – September 1, 2004)Biography '' AllMusic'' was an American Louisiana blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter from the United States.
Neal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, and reared by his aunt ...
,
Anson Funderburgh
Anson Funderburgh (born James Anson Funderburgh; November 14, 1954) is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues.
Career
Funderbu ...
, and the
Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974.
Career
After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/ Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Rec ...
. In the comeback stage of his career (since the late 1980s) he recorded new albums backed by
Mike Buck,
Sue Foley,
Gene Taylor,
Kenny Neal
Kenny Neal (born October 14, 1957), is an American blues guitar player, singer and band member.
Neal was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Raful Neal, and he comes from a musical family. He has often performed with his brothers in his ...
,
Lucky Peterson
Judge Kenneth Peterson (December 13, 1964 – May 17, 2020), known professionally as Lucky Peterson, was an American musician who played contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He played guitar and keyboards. Music jou ...
, and
Jimmie Vaughan
Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...
.
Biography
Leslie Johnson
started playing the guitar around age 11 and began performing in his teens around Baton Rouge with
Raful Neal
Raful Neal (June 6, 1936 – September 1, 2004)Biography '' AllMusic'' was an American Louisiana blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter from the United States.
Neal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, and reared by his aunt ...
, later co-founding the Rhythm Rockers. In the mid-1950s, Lester was on the margins of the
Louisiana blues scene. According to ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' (February 2006),
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...
, before moving to Chicago, had played in Louisiana with some of the old masters:
Lightnin' Hopkins
Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list o ...
, Lazy Lester,
Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo (born James Isaac Moore; January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spiri ...
. When Guy left for Chicago, in 1957, Lester replaced him, on guitar, in a local band – even though Lester, at that time, did not own such an instrument.
Lester's career took off when he found a seat next to
Lightnin' Slim
Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records. The blues critic ED Denson ranked him as one of the five great bl ...
on a bus transporting Slim to an Excello recording session. At the studio, the scheduled harmonica player did not appear. Slim and Lester spent the afternoon unsuccessfully trying to find him, when Lester volunteered that he could play the harmonica. Lester's work on that first Lightnin' Slim session led the producer,
Jay Miller, to record Lester as solo artist and also to use him as a multi-instrumentalist on percussion, guitar, bass, and harmonica in sessions headlined by other artists whose recordings were produced by Miller, including, notably, Slim Harpo.
'Percussion' on these sessions went beyond the traditional
drum kit
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...
and included a rolled-up newspaper striking a cardboard box.
Miller dubbed Lester "Lazy Lester" because of his laconic, laid-back style.
More than his vocal delivery, Lester is best remembered for songs that were later covered by a wide range of
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and
Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine, American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the Tejanos, ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others i ...
stars, chiefly, "I'm a Lover Not a Fighter," "I Hear You Knockin'," and "Sugar Coated Love".
Lester stated that he wrote these songs, but almost all are credited to Miller or to Lester and Miller. Lester also stated he received few
royalties
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
, which embittered him and made him skeptical of the music industry. By the late 1960s, he had given up on the music industry,
working manual labor and pursuing his favorite hobby – fishing. Lester eventually moved to
Pontiac, Michigan
Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit.
Founde ...
, living with Slim Harpo's sister.
In 1971, Fred Reif set up a Lightnin' Slim concert at the University of Chicago Folk Festival, and Lester was brought up from Louisiana to accompany him. A few weeks after that performance, Lester was back in Louisiana. Years later, Reif and Lester were both in Michigan, from where Reif orchestrated a comeback. Lester recorded and played around the United States and abroad, backed by blues bands, including, frequently, Loaded Dice.
Lester's recordings in this period were on blues labels
Alligator
An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
and
Telarc
Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...
, alongside releases in Europe.
In September 2002, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Boston Blues Society.
In 2003,
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
included Lester in his blues tribute concert at
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
, a record of which was released as the film and album ''Lightning in A Bottle''. The group photograph inside the album depicted Lester grinning, dead-center among peers and musical progeny including
B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
,
Solomon Burke,
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (April 18, 1924 – September 10, 2005) was an American singer and multi-instrumentalist from Louisiana. He won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1983 for his album, ''Alright Again!''.
Early life
Br ...
,
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...
,
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...
,
Chuck D, the
Neville Brothers,
Dr. John
Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B.
Active as a session musician from ...
,
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty
Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American mu ...
, and
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...
.
Lester lived in
Paradise, California
Paradise is a town in Butte County, California, United States in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the northeastern Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 4,764. On November 8, 2018, a major wildfire, the Camp Fire ...
, with his girlfriend., and appeared in the 2015 documentary film ''
I Am the Blues''.
Lester continued to perform nationally and abroad into 2018, often returning to Louisiana where he regularly shared the stage with
Lil' Buck Sinegal,
Carol Fran
Carol Fran (born Carol Augustus Anthony; October 23, 1933 – September 1, 2021) was an American soul blues singer, pianist, and songwriter, best known for her string of single releases in the 1950s and 1960s, and her later musical association w ...
, and
Kenny Neal
Kenny Neal (born October 14, 1957), is an American blues guitar player, singer and band member.
Neal was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Raful Neal, and he comes from a musical family. He has often performed with his brothers in his ...
. In the same year, he appeared and performed in a television commercial aired nationally for Geico Insurance.
Lester died of
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
on August 22, 2018, at the age of 85.
Selected discography
* ''True Blues'' – 1967,
Excello LP
* ''Lazy Lester Rides Again'' – 1987, King Snake
* ''Harp & Soul'' – 1988,
Alligator
An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
(featuring
Lucky Peterson
Judge Kenneth Peterson (December 13, 1964 – May 17, 2020), known professionally as Lucky Peterson, was an American musician who played contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He played guitar and keyboards. Music jou ...
,
Kenny Neal
Kenny Neal (born October 14, 1957), is an American blues guitar player, singer and band member.
Neal was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Raful Neal, and he comes from a musical family. He has often performed with his brothers in his ...
)
* ''Lazy Lester'' – 1989, Flyright (France) (previously unreleased Excello session takes from the 1960s)
* ''I'm a Lover Not a Fighter'' – 1994, Excello/
Ace
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...
* ''I Hear You Knockin – 1994, Excello/AVI
* ''All Over You'' – 1998,
Antone's (recorded 1997 – featuring Derek O'Brien,
Sue Foley,
Sarah Brown)
* ''Lazy Lester'' – 2000, (6-song audiophile 12" EP), APO (recorded October 12–13 – featuring
Henry Gray
Henry Gray (1827 – 13 June 1861) was a British anatomist and surgeon most notable for publishing the book ''Gray's Anatomy''. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) at the age of 25.
Biography
Gray was born in Belgrav ...
,
Jimmy D. Lane)
* ''Superharps II'' – 2001, Telarc (co-billed with
Carey Bell
Carey Bell Harrington (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007) was an American blues musician who played harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s bef ...
,
Raful Neal
Raful Neal (June 6, 1936 – September 1, 2004)Biography '' AllMusic'' was an American Louisiana blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter from the United States.
Neal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, and reared by his aunt ...
,
Snooky Pryor
James Edward "Snooky" Pryor (September 15, 1919 or 1921 – October 18, 2006) was an American Chicago blues harmonica player. He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in his ...
)
* ''Blues Stop Knockin' '' – 2001, Antone's (featuring
Jimmie Vaughan
Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...
)
* ''Blues On My Radio'' – 2004, SWMAF (featuring
Louisiana Red
Iverson Minter (March 23, 1932 – February 25, 2012), known as Louisiana Red, was an American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. He was best known for his song "Sweet Blood Call".
Biography
Born ...
)
* ''Family Meeting'' – 2008, Ruf –
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
by Wentus Blues Band
* ''One More Once'' – 2010, Karonte/Cambaya (Produced by
Mike Vernon)
* ''You Better Listen'' – 2011, Bluestown (recorded in Notodden, Norway)
* "New Orleans" (featuring Maurice 'Big Mo' Huffman) on Big Mo's album ''Torn'' – 2011
See also
*
*
San Francisco Blues Festival
The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was the one of the longest running blues festival in the United States.
History
Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the ...
*
List of swamp blues musicians
*
List of harmonica blues musicians
*
List of harmonicists
*
Music of Louisiana
The music of Louisiana can be divided into three general regions: rural south Louisiana, home to Creole Zydeco and Old French (now known as cajun music), New Orleans, and north Louisiana. The region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique ...
*
Blues harp
The Richter-tuned harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica (in Asia) or blues harp (in America), is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes (10 holes times a draw and ...
References
External links
*
2014_Blues_Masters_at_the_Crossroads_performance_accompanied_by_Marquise_Knox.html" ;"title="Marquise Knox">2014 Blues Masters at the Crossroads performance accompanied by Marquise Knox
">Marquise Knox">2014 Blues Masters at the Crossroads performance accompanied by Marquise Knox
br>
Lazy Lester talks about the guitar being the love of his life – NAMM Oral History Library (2006)* (IT
Lazy Lester, I Hear You Knockin'* (IT
Lazy Lester, Blues Stop Knockin'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lester, Lazy
1933 births
2018 deaths
20th-century African-American musicians
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
American blues harmonica players
American blues singers
American male singers
Songwriters from Louisiana
Harmonica blues musicians
Singers from Louisiana
Swamp blues musicians
Blues musicians from Louisiana
People from Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
People from Paradise, California
Guitarists from Louisiana
20th-century American guitarists
Alligator Records artists
Excello Records artists
Deaths from stomach cancer
Deaths from cancer in California
20th-century American male musicians
American male songwriters