Musicians who worked with Lester Young said that he loved to sing, and he had a sweet, singular voice. He sang on a 1952 Norman Granz session, and IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO has been widely circulated.
This pop song, a minor 1941 hit for Gene Krupa and Glenn Miller, has been broadcast on WKCR-FM by the late Phil Schaap, who described the original disc — a private issue, terribly worn, made of hard rubber — as having one of the instrumental sides from his debut session of 1936, SHOE SHINE BOY, on the other side. Phil suggested that this was a demonstration disc, a kind of calling card for Lester, looking for future gigs witih his little band, showing their versatility.
It was reissued in the CD era (1993) on the French Masters of Jazz series, “Lester Young, Volume 2, 1939-1942, The Complementary Works,” which is the source here. The annotators for that CD propose the personnel to be Red “Mack” Morris, trumpet; Lester Young, tenor saxophone and vocal; Bumps Myers, tenor saxophone; Jimmie Rowles, piano; Louis Gonzales, guitar; Red Callender, double bass; Lee Young, drums, and that it was recorded in New York. All educated conjecture, but Lester’s vocal and solo are both touching, and if one is willing to listen more than a few times, the surface noise falls away. When Phil broadcast it on one of his Lester Young birthday broadcasts, I made a cassette of it, which I played many times. My purpose in this blogpost is to let others hear this sweet music as well.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 