Lester Young by Cabu

The complete clarinet works 1938/1958

A tenor saxophonist , he had quite simply revolutionized the world of jazz : his advanced harmonic language, his supreme detachment, his rhythmic ease and the flexibility of his phrasing had opened the way for several generations of saxophonists who, from Charlie Parker to Dexter Gordon and James Moody and Stan Getz were going to assimilate and make their own the great lesson of the "president" of the tenors. Clarinetist , he remains little-known, even unknown, and yet... What skin-deep sensitivity in each of his interventions; what economy of means, at a time when it was fashionable to display one's technique; what incredible originality in the delicate treatment of sound material; and what musical density in each of his turns of phrase. Lester was one of the very rare musicians to use the metal clarinet , and yet none of his "woody" colleagues knew how to express tenderness and fragility with such obviousness: one more paradox for one that we can consider like an authentic "angel" of the clarinet .