condition (record/cover): NM / EX- (minimal ring wear on back)

The Keynote sessions from the middle forties catch Lester Young at a pivot point: still the floating, melodic player who had rewritten the tenor saxophone with Basie, but with a darkening tone and a heaviness in the phrasing that would deepen after the army years. Harry Lim produced these dates with small groups of first-rank players and no interference, and the results are among the best-recorded and most relaxed of the period. Pres never played loudly and never needed to. The whole argument of his style is that a melody, stated well, does not require force.

Mercury pressing of the Keynote material. Essential middle-period Young.