Great introduction to a master
prezfan | memphis tn usa | 12/21/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"this is an excellent 2cd set (especially disc 2). selections cover his entire recording career: performances with the basie band, the kansas city 6, billie holiday, nat king cole, charlie christian, etc. my only criticism is that there is no discographical info beyond tune titles and writers, and that's a drag if you're not familiar with the groups and people he played with. lester played great blues and disc 2 contains a generous sampling of that genre: 'back to the land', 'midnight symphony', 'd.b. blues', 's.m. blues', 'ax-o-bebop' to name a few."
Don't waste your time or money on this set
Gordon M. Brown | San Diego, CA USA | 07/20/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This year (2009) marks the 100th anniversary of the day Lester leaped in, and the 50th anniversary of the day Lester left town. By the gods of great music, make the most of these occasions, and pass on this 2-CD set altogether. Not that the music is the issue; my complaint has to do with Snapper Music's shoddy, low-rent production values, as evidenced in this package.
As the previous reviewer has noted, "Cool Perspective" contains no discographical information, and for that matter, not even track timings. What you get in their stead is a skimpy six-page booklet containing a brief biography of Prez, which in this instance is worse than useless because it relates only information that is already widely known. If it's presumed that buyers won't know much about Lester Young's legacy, why then are they left to chart the high seas on their own, without some kind of discographical guide?
I'd be somewhat more favorably inclined toward this recording if the folks at Snapper Music had dumped the biography and provided a decent discography instead. But all this is moot, because there are better alternatives out there. Chief among them is Proper Records Ltd.'s 4-CD box set, The Lester Young Story. For about $10 more (depending on how and where you shop), you get all 44 tracks of "Cool Perspective" plus 40 more; and a handsome, 52-page booklet with discography, performers on each recording, a more comprehensive biography, and a spate of interesting photographs. On top of which, the four CDs are packaged in a mini-LP-style (or even 78-rpm-style) box with cardboard sleeves for each. For additional nostalgia value, each sleeve displays an artificially colorized photo of Prez in different bands and different attitudes, but all of them conveying that particularly odd way he held his instrument at angles that were completely askew of his body. (I much prefer this sort of packaging to that evil plastic "jewel case" of the 2-CD "Cool Perspective" set, from which the splines on the CD trays have already begun to break off. That recording is headed for the local music and arts library as a donation.)
Other reviewers have raved about "The Lester Young Story," so I won't comment further whether right here or over there. It suffices to say that, in this case, the decision is a textbook example of a no-brainer. If you enjoy the Proper Records production as much as I do, you should also look into another 4-CD set of theirs, Coleman Hawkins: The Bebop Years."
Track Listings (44) - Disc #1
