What is spinning?

[poppachubby]

Lester Young: The Complete Studio Sessions on Verve

Fantastic stuff here. I've dabbled in listening to Lester Young over the years and was complaining on here about not knowing where to turn for both great music and decent recordings of the man and this was suggested. It fits the bill fantastically. You get Young's fantastically lyrical playing, solid fidelity and 8 CDs worth of great music. I have read that he wasn't at his best by this point in his career, but if this isn't his best, I"m not sure how much better he could sound. As a side note, I think people way undervalue Verve as a jazz label. I guess it's just not as rare to come across as old Blue Notes or Prestige on vinyl or some others, but sound and quality wise some of my absolute favorite jazz pops up on Verve. This set is certainly no exception.

I think the debate about Young is to do with the latter part of his career from the early 50's on. I think that is only about 2 maybe 3 discs on that set, so most is from the healthy part of his life. Truthfully, you can hear the difference in his playing in the later recordings. He simply couldn't physically blow the same.

As for Verve ya you hit that on the head. Norman Granz ran Verve, Clef, Norgran and Pablo through his life. He made fantastic relationships with jazz's finest and generally the sound from those pressings is awesome.

Third album recorded by the combination of Oliver Nelson and Eric Dolphy, after Screamin' the Blues and Blues and the Abstract Truth. And this one's another great recording. I really like the way the more traditional arrangements of Nelson combine with the more avant leanings of Dolphy. IT kinda splits the difference really well and you end up with enough structure and melody to be enjoyable to listen while still taking chances.

Great album nobody!! What you are talking about is so true. They call it playing inside, but stepping out. I tend towards this type of jazz also. You really should check out 60's era Booker Ervin and Jaki Byard, of course Dolphy and Booker Little had the gift too.

Great posts.