biography
| name: |
Young, Lester (Willis)
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nickname Prez
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1909–59)
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| biography:
| Tenor saxophonist, born in Woodville, Mississippi, USA. He first played alto saxophone in a family band, but changed to tenor saxophone in 1927 and worked with a succession of bands in the mid-west, before joining the newly-formed Count Basie Orchestra in 1934 for a spell, rejoining it in 1936. The band's rise to national prominence in the late 1930s brought him recognition as an innovative soloist, whose light tone marked a break from the swing-style saxophone, and inspired such modernists as Charlie Parker. In 1944 he was drafted, disastrously, into the army, and for the rest of his life he suffered from ill-health and excessive drinking, but continued playing until his death. His nickname ‘Prez’, for ‘President’, was given to him by his close friend Billie Holiday. |
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