Being Prez - The Life and Music of Lester Young - Dave Gelly
Just jivin’ around
Being Prez - The Life and Music of Lester Young - Dave Gelly
Dave Gelly [+]
Writer and Journalist
Dave Gelly writes about jazz in The Observer and other newspapers and journals. He has written and presented many features for BBC radio and hosted a weekly Radio Two show. He was a leading writer on the Sony Award-winning ten-part BBC radio series Sinatra: Voice of the Century and is the author of several books, including Masters of the Jazz Saxophone (Miller Freeman, 2000) and Stan Getz: Nobody Else but Me (Backbeat 2002). He was named Jazz Writer of the Year in the 1999 British Jazz Awards. Dave Gelly was appointed MBE in the 2005 New Years Honours.
Description
Lester Young and Count Basie, friends and co-workers for the past five years in Basie’s band, parted two weeks ago. The split came as a terrific surprise to followers of Basie and the band. Basie said he would not comment. Young…likewise refused to discuss the change and said he wasn’t sure what he would do… Les, who failed to show up for a record date on Friday 13th [December], said ‘Go ’way and lemme sleep – a man’s got no business makin’ music on Friday the 13th’.