cciii. YOUNG, Lester: Easy Does It

cciii. YOUNG, Lester (1909-1959)

Easy Does It (1947)
LY, tenor saxophone
Shorty McConnell, trumpet
Argonne Thornton (Sadik Hakim), piano
Fred Lacey, guitar
Ted Briscoe, bass
Roy Haynes, drums
(2:33)

from The Complete Aladdin Recordings of Lester Young.

"'Prez got that soft tone, so different from Coleman Hawkins' because that's the way he wanted everything in life,' a former Lester Young sideman told me years ago. 'I got him a pair of shoes once, and one day I came in and found them in the wastebasket. Then I realized they were hard-soled shoes, and he would always wear moccasins or slippers. It had to be soft and gentle or Prez wanted no part of it.'" -- Leonard Feather

Just an "easy" blues with a thump-thump on one and two in the second chorus -- then Lester goes to town.

Listen to the statement at 1:28! What a phrase, composed from the air around him!