''The Lester Young Trio'' and ''The Lester Young Trio No. 2'' are jazz trio albums by

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

with

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

and

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York ...

, recorded in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

, in March–April 1946, with the first four tracks being released in 1951.

Release history

The recordings were produced by Norman Granz and the first four tracks were released in 1951 on a Mercury Records 10 inch LP, ''The Lester Young Trio''. Another four tracks were released in 1953 on Norman Granz' Clef Records label as ''The Lester Young Trio No. 2''. All eight trio tracks were combined on a 12-inch Norgran LP, '' The Lester Young Buddy Rich Trio'' released in 1955. Nat King Cole was under contract with a different record label at the time so was credited only as "Aye Guy" on the original Mercury / Clef / Norgran releases. In 1994 Verve Records released a CD version of ''The Lester Young Trio'' that combined all eight tracks from the 1946 Hollywood trio recordings, plus an alternate take of "

I Cover the Waterfront ''I Cover the Waterfront'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code romantic drama film directed by James Cruze and starring Ben Lyon, Claudette Colbert, Ernest Torrence, and Hobart Cavanaugh. Based on the book, by Max Miller, a reporter for the San Diego ...

" and an additional shortened version of "Back to the Land", together with four additional tracks recorded earlier by a quintet with Nat King Cole (but without Lester Young or Buddy Rich).

Track listing

''The Lester Young Trio''

LP side A #"

" (

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

Heyman Heyman is the surname of: * Alan Heyman (1931–2014), South Korean musicologist and composer * Art Heyman (1941–2012), American basketball player * David Heyman, British film producer * Edward Heyman (1907–1981), American musician and lyricis ...

) – 4:05 #"

Somebody Loves Me "Somebody Loves Me" is a popular song, with music written by George Gershwin, and lyrics by Ballard MacDonald and Buddy DeSylva. The song was published in 1924 and featured in ''George White's Scandals'' of 1924. This is not to be confused with ...

" ( MacDonald, DeSylva, Gershwin) – 3:54 LP side B #"

I've Found a New Baby "I've Found a New Baby", also known as "I Found a New Baby", is a popular song written by Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams. It was introduced by Clarence Williams' Blue Five in 1926 and has since been recorded by many artists, making it a popular ...

" (Palmer, Williams) – 4:07 #"Back to the Land" (Young) – 4:05

''The Lester Young Trio No. 2''

LP side A #"

I Want to Be Happy "I Want to Be Happy" is a song with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Irving Caesar written for the 1925 musical '' No, No, Nanette''. Musical The song is used several times throughout the musical as a running theme representing the attempts ...

" (

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...

Youmans Youmans is a surname of English origin, a variant of "yeoman". Notable persons with this last name include: * Ashley Youmans, birth-name of Ashley Alexandra Dupré, call girl connected to the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal * Charlotte Youmans ...

) – 3:58 #"

Peg O' My Heart "Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by Alfred Bryan (words) and Fred Fisher (music). It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The song was first performed publicly by Irving Kaufman ...

"Young / Cole duo - no drums ( Bryan,

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

) – 4:06 LP side B #" Mean To Me" ( Ahlert, Turk) – 4:15 #" The Man I Love" ( Gershwin, Gershwin) – 3:58

Bonus tracks on Verve 1994 CD re-issue

Two tracks from the original 1946 Young-Cole-Rich trio recording sessions: *"I Cover the Waterfront" (alternate take) – 3:56 *"Back to the Land" (edited version) – 3:54 Four tracks from earlier Nat King Cole sessions (without Young or Rich): *"I've Found a New Baby" (Palmer, Williams) – 4:40 *"Rosetta" – 5:09 *"

Sweet Lorraine "Sweet Lorraine" is a popular song with music by Cliff Burwell and words by Mitchell Parish that was published in 1928 and has become a jazz standard. It is written in F major and has an AABA structure. A version by Teddy Wilson charted in Oct ...

" ( Burwell,

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

) – 4:55 *"Blowed and Gone" – 4:41

Personnel

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(credited as "Aye Guy" on the original releases) –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Personnel on 4 of the CD re-issue bonus tracks * Nat "King" Cole – piano *

Harry "Sweets" Edison Harry "Sweets" Edison (October 10, 1915 – July 27, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. His most important contribution was as a Hollywood studio musician, whose muted trumpet can be heard backi ...

– trumpet *

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...

– tenor saxophone * Clifford Owens – drums *

Red Callender George Sylvester "Red" Callender (March 6, 1916 – March 8, 1992) was an American string bass and tuba player. He is perhaps best known as a jazz musician, but worked with an array of pop, rock and vocal acts as a member of The Wrecking Cre ...

or Johnny Miller – bass

References / notes

*Verve Records Discography: 1944-1946 a
jazzdisco.org
*''The Lester Young Trio'' (Mercury LP) a
microgroove.jp

Sources

Gridley, Mark C. ''Jazz Styles: History & Analysis''. 9th edn. N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2006. Print. {{Authority control 1951 albums Albums produced by Norman Granz Albums recorded at Radio Recorders Albums with cover art by David Stone Martin Clef Records albums Lester Young albums Mercury Records albums Verve Records albums