Lester Young, Boston 1950 (Uptown)
If it has been too long since you’ve listened to Lester Young, say a couple of weeks, this collection of club performances could be just what you need. The tracks are from radio broadcasts when Young’s quintet was appearing at Boston’s Hi-Hat in the spring of 1950. He may not have been the Lester of the late 1930s Count Basie band, but the exuberance and ingenuity of his playing counter claims that after WWII he was a burnt-out case. Young was always capable of playing a phrase that could astonish the listener. Here, he does it frequently. His colleagues include Connie Kay on drums and two rising young pianists, Kenny Drew and Horace Silver.