Portrait of Lester Young, Famous Door, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1946] (LOC) William Gottlieb, P., 1917-, photographer.
LUMINOUS MAGICAL
For Dan Morgenstern who showed me Lester Young’s saxophone
.
.
Now that I have held this saxophone
………………………….in my hands
this mythical horn that once danced with
joy in the hands of a poet, with unbound breath
It occurs to me that if I was to look even
deeper beyond this magical talisman of jazz
I could look for what mountain, what mine shaft
gave up the metal that made this saxophone
All the elements of the ever-spiraling universe are in it
And who was the highland Scottish shepherd made
………………………….the felt pads
Which Caribbean Island did the bamboo cane reed grow?
And still, you’d have to know, that it was spirit that
filled this saxophone, that the unfetter’d soul of a dreamer
came into possession of this perfect saxophone
this geometry atomized held sideways on the bandstand
Dan said, “Go ahead, pick it up if you want”
This is the horn he played for Billie
This is the one on his first record “Lady Be Good”
………………………..and “Shoe Shine Boy”
This is the horn he had when the Henderson lady said No, No, No,
………..play like the Hawk
be like a dauguerrotype crow
enchanted subterranean energized fluidity sparkling like
barking clouds
the absolute supernatural joy he catapulted across the sky,
luminous intelligence, the gold Conn with
the number 4 six times in a row
incandescent back waters of consciousness, before the melancholy
set in, tarnished like a bandit’s miracle
One wonders why he set this horn down, why he parted with it
what undercurrent blue oceanic depths &
alchemical grace changed
Mark Weber – 15-21aug11
Lester Young’s grave | Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn (Plot: Redemption section; Grave: 11418) | December 6, 2004 | Photo by Mark Weber
Lester Young’s grave | Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn (Plot: Redemption section; Grave: 11418) | December 6, 2004 | Photo by Mark Weber
Interesting to note that of the two ways you can spell Lester’s honorific
cognomen — Pres or Prez — you can see on this affidavit in the holdings
at IJS (Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey)
that Lester himself preferred the Prez spelling. I took that blurry photo
on August 9th — my Olympus 35RC is not designed for close-ups — but,
still, Klaus was good enough to include it, this notarized statement of
authenticity of Lester’s gold Conn with serial # 444,444 that they keep in
temperature controlled vault — in fact, it was Dan Morgenstern, director of
IJS, who pointed out Lester leaned toward the Prez spelling. (I’ve come
to the conclusion that either spelling is okay, that there is no one
correct way to spell it.)
Lester was good but the greatest was
Ohio Schmeckendorf!
Ohio Schmeckendorf!
he was so great that he played without a reed!
no one could hear him!
no reed!
he was over everyone’s head!
he was very tall!
he didn’t practice long tones
he had three lungs and when he blew the roof off of a place it was literal!
he’d practice by sneaking behind a bus and blowing into the tail pipe and making the engine explode!
but one day tragedy struck; he hiccupped!
Ohio Schmeckendorf!!
He played the greatest shit you never heard!
Hey Mark,
Great poem. Great poem for a great musician. Must have been something holding that horn.
all best stuff
Fred
great, great, great!
Mark,
Beautiful Poem on Prez……..I have seen the horn in the glass case……charley
Dear Mark,
Many thanks for your “Prez” poem – lovely words. I am sure you know that the photo of Lester is a reverse negative – the right hand fingers the bottom part of the horn and the left hand the top keys.
It occurs to me to be sure your have the actual recorded interview that Francois Postiff did with Lester just before he died. Tristano sent it to Warne years ago and I eventually had it put on CD. It is transcribed in one of Prez books.
I would like to know the actual text of the To Whom It May Concern document. In the Jimmy Rowles archive there are letters from the mid-forties and a 1948 Christmas card from Lester and Mary Young!! Those were some of Jimmy’s treasures.
More soon,
Regards,
Gary
Ah! Brings a nice memory of the session we played “The Day Mark Held Prez’ Horn,” and we got to hear about your adventure.
made me cry.
an excellent and beautiful and totally cool poem…
Since Gary’s comment we (Klaus) have since flipped the photograph
so that the hands are correct.
That’s like the single surviving tintype
of Billy the Kid that showed him to be left-handed, which he wasn’t. And
it was years before that it was figured out that the photo was reversed. Horace
Tapscott came up with a fanciful idea over that and wrote a tune “Deadeye Dick”
about a right-handed gunslinger who circulated a photo of himself left-handed so
that his adversaries would be taken by surprise.
At IJS, Lester’s saxophone is kept in a back room that is temperature controlled,
it’s a separate room from the room that has the stacks of manuscripts (musical
scores) rows and rows of shelves. In the back room was Curley Russell’s bass,
Eddie Condon’s guitar, Buck Clayton’s trumpet, several Ruby Braff cornets, and
a gang of others. Lester’s horn is in a metal vault-like cabinet that has trays that
slide out. On the same tray as Lester’s horn was Don Byas’ tenor and Ben Webster’s
tenor “Betsy.” And on the tray above that was Pepper Adams baritone.
Thanks, Mark. Your love shows through.
Nice Poem Mark! I was afraid to pick that horn up when Dan had me over. Such history! Prez!
Doug Lawrence
Hey Doug,
I know what you mean, except I was too stupid and had that
saxophone in my hands before I knew what I was doing THEN was overcome
with the shakes. Dan is so gracious.
After holding it in my lap and fingering the keys only about a minute I then
very very gingerly and reverentially returned it slowly to it’s tray.
Here’s this horn that we all have learned so much from. So, when Dan said
I could also pick up Don Byas’ horn and Ben’s, I was too delirious from holding
Lester’s that I politely declined saying I would just like to touch them. I touched them
with one finger, each, for talismanic reasons.
I think you told me that you played Betsy there at IJS?
Do you know why Lester and that horn parted ways?
Hi Mark,
When Ben’s horn came in Dan called me and I came over to see it. It still had Ben’s last reed on it. Dan wanted me to play the horn, but I couldn’t. Too awe struck and I have too much respect. I looked at the mouthpiece and it had a hole in the top. A few years later, Paul Gonzalves’s wife had me over to their house for some great Portuguese dinner she cooked.(I was really into Paul and Ben and was trying to play like them at that time – she heard me up in Harlem at Small’s Paradise). She brought me Paul’s horn. I opened up the case and looked at the mouthpiece. It had a hole in it too, the same place Ben’s did, on the top of the piece where your upper teeth go. I was knocked out. Couldn’t play Paul’s horn either. I wasn’t worthy!
Doug Lawrence
Mark
Beautiful – as usual.
Thanks
Jack
Excellent. Write a pile of them, if you can. You have it right.
Ray
Other parts of the Lester Young Legend that I allude to
in my poem are
in the ninth stanza:
1) His obbligattos behind Billie Holiday from 1934 when he was briefly in NYC with Fletcher Henderson, and then in early 1937 when the Count Basie Orchestra
arrived in NYC and through to the TV special Sound Of Jazz, December 8, 1957, are magical.
2) His first recordings were November 9, 1936 in a quintet configuration, at age 27.
3) Lester’s ill-fated membership in the great Fletcher Henderson Orchestra lasted only a few
months, from April through summer 1934, when he was contracted to fill the chair of departing
star tenor Coleman Hawkins, of whom, Lester sounds nothing like. And it was Fletcher’s wife
Leora Henderson who intended to make Lester sound like the Hawk, much to Lester’s chagrin.
Beautiful, Mark!
And thanks for kind words. Prez gave the horn to Institute founder Marshall Stearns–assume he parted with it when he got that Dolnet which now belongs to Dave Pell…
Hi Mark, I love the poem, but I am not sure what a dauguerrotype crow is?Time to google…
Mark- Your well described joy of Prez and so many others is great to experience 1st hand.
mark,
great poem, i dig your excursions into the different realms of the horn…….my friend len bukowski owns eric dolphy’s alto.
mike
Cuz.. this poem is exceptional and I feel your love for the music, the man and the reverence in which you hold these things. Your poetry moves like a melody of thought.
I really like it when you read your poetry too..
Love,
Patsy
Gentle lyricist — “You’ve gotta know the words of the song before you play it” — w/ shrewd cashmere vision — “Stan gets the money” — was a poet for all reasons & seasons — Lester spoke a language out of his own dictionary — “Bells” for good boo — “Lady” for any comrade in the riff of blues core freedom & improvisation’s often startling grace — Never alarmed by the light, Prez dwelt uneasily in dark threads — My book of poems (“No Eyes”) nervously imagines the last couple of years of his life –in his room at the Arvin Hotel on Broadway across the street from
Birdland named after one of Young’s great disciples —
Hi Mark,
That’s a beauty!
I posted it in a couple of places on facebook, my own page and a group Scott Yanow has called The Jazz World. I hope everyone takes the time to look.
You’re outstanding!
Andy
Hi Mark, Great poem. In answer, here’s this –
FRANK ISOLA
Salty humor, almost autistic
Never looking you in the eyes
Preoccupied with whatever
Pawned his drums everyday
For drugs, for inspiration
To cut off the outside world
Remove the pain of daily existence
He had perfect time
Not like a metronome
But with furious attack
Of the fast tempos
Swinging like there’s no tomorrow
He gets someone to unpawn his drums
And goes to the dingy bar
Sets up his drums on the bar floor
Jn the sawdust and cigarette butts
Playing in a bar on a bar floor
No mikes, no lights
Just a bar floor
With tables and chairs pushed aside
To make room for the band
Frank is fully there for the music
He knows all the arrangements
Jordu, Oleo, Well You Needn’t
And all the others
Smoke hangs low in the room
Clattering glasses, chattering Asses
Musicians in their cocoons
Ignoring the ignorers
Fringe people watching in wonderment
At the cohesion of chaos
Into an organized bond
The brilliant music pouring
Into the dingy bar.
They play. Frank’s time is perfect
The up-tempos furious with kaleidoscope inventiveness
The band finishes their last set
And pack up their gear
Frank puts his drums in someone’s car
He’s gone thru a whole bottle of uppers
Enough to kill you or me
Someone takes him home
So he gets up the next day so he can
Pawn his drums and buy more pills
Only a few in the audience noticed
The brilliance that happened that night
No one noticed the despair
Being trapped in the cycle
Of chasing drugs all day
That would give him permission
To be creative all night
Not even Frank