We can mourn what was lost, but we should celebrate what was saved: twelve minues of a jam session, hidden in plain sight. These two selections were performed on WNEW-AM in New York City, either December 22 or 29, 1940, location not specified.
The identifiable players are Hot Lips Page, trumpet and vocal; Lester Young, Charlie Barnet, tenor saxophones; others unidentified. The original recordist captured this on two sides of a home-recording disc, and there is a gap in Lester’s solo when the disc had to be turned over. Source material: a tape copy discovered by Thierry Trombert, issued on Masters of Jazz, “Lester Young: Volume 6, 1944 [sic], The Complementary Works,” MJCD 99. Another performance from this session is by Billie Holiday, singing THE MAN I LOVE.
But here’s Eddie Durham’s WHAM:
and OH, LADY BE GOOD, where Barnet quotes Lester before Lester begins, I think as an admiring acknowledgment:
Sharing is caring, Barney the purple dinosaur says, so I hope you enjoy this. It’s especially for one of jazz’s best friends, Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera, long may he spin.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 