Lester Young is heard with two separate rhythm sections during two 1956 broadcasts recorded in Europe. Although the fidelity is somewhat muddy,
Young's rich tone is very distinct during the first four tracks, where he is joined by pianist
Lasse Werner, bassist
Al King, and drummer
Lex Humphries. His lush rendition of
"These Foolish Things" is marvelous, but the closing
"Lester's European Blues" ends up being the most historically important track, as it documents the tenor saxophonist's longest
improvisation ever recorded, an incredible 39 choruses. Unfortunately, the song is faded just past the nine-minute mark as
Werner's solo gets underway. The sound quality drops a bit for the two incomplete selections from a television broadcast, which were taped directly from a television's loudspeaker. Joining
Young are pianist
Rene Urteger, bassist
Pierre Michelot, and drummer
Christian Garros, though the focus during these relatively brief excerpts is exclusively on
Young. While
"Polka Dots and Moonbeams" is enjoyable, there are many better versions by
Young of
"Lester Leaps In" than this one, which is rather repetitious. This release, which first appeared as an
Onyx LP in the 1970s, was reissued by
High Note in 2000, and the label took the trouble to update
Dan Morgenstern's excellent liner notes. So this historic material is well worth purchasing in spite of any sound flaws. ~ Ken Dryden
![Ellington at Newport [1999]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0886974920526_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Ellington at Newport [1999]")
