Being Prez - The Life and Music of Lester Young - Dave Gelly
Jammin’ the blues
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
Al Sears was a tenor saxophonist, a few months younger than Lester, who had been leading a series of bands over most of the preceding decade. His current, thirteen-strong outfit had been formed the previous October for a residency at the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom on West 138th Street. This contract came to an end after Lester had been on board for a couple of weeks and Sears signed up for a long tour under the auspices of the United Services Organisation (USO), a partly state-funded voluntary body which provided entertainment for the troops. With the country on a war footing, shortages of fuel and other supplies were making life increasingly difficult for touring bands.