Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Lester leaned....


Found a Lester Young story i hadn't heard in the (updated) Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around by (bassist) Bill Crow - published by Oxford University Press -

Lester went into a jazz club to hear some friends play. He didn't bring
his saxophone. He just wanted to listen. he intentionally sat in a dark
part of the room, hoping not to be recognized, but someone noticed him
and he heard them whispering, "Wow, that's Lester Young!""Maybe we can
get him to sit in!" Lester leaned over to the table and whispered,
"i don't dig being dug while I'm digging."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

can you dig it, baby...hot diggedy dig...i've bin dug

Anonymous said...

Sweet Jeebus that guy was cool.The epitome of cool.






dig?

Anonymous said...

I saw Lester Young.Yeah I know it was him. N.Y.C. Way back when.The girls swooned as he strolled through the joint. Red hair n'all.I forget which joint. Some joint. 3:23 a.m. He winked at me. Nodded. Gave me another wink.He kept lookin' my way.I think, "What the fuck,I ain't done nothin'". He finally strolled up, "Where'd ya swipe yer brim,Jim?" I froze. MISTER Young then whispered in my ear..."Let the words flow,Joe." I nodded."My Pops gave me this trilby a few years back." Lester turned and walked away,then turned back around.."Nice lid,Kid!"

persephone2u said...

Can you dig it, yes I can...

sorry, just had a fatal moment recall of an old song! :-)

Anonymous said...

nearly fatal...but i'm recovering. It's the rest of the commentaries that may prove terminal....

- Doug Overdug

Anonymous said...

Lester was cool. Cool makes me think of hip. Hip makes me think of what Slim Gaillard said:" Let me tell you this, when you go into any club to hear some music, you can tell immediately who's hip - they're the ones who ain't talking when someone's on stage playing."