{"id":6706,"date":"2015-06-11T17:44:02","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T00:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=6706"},"modified":"2015-06-12T12:52:44","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T19:52:44","slug":"getting-happy-with-lester-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2015\/06\/getting-happy-with-lester-young\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Happy With Lester Young"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[contextly_auto_sidebar id=&#8221;iZwj6xH22IHyU3vTEnJynWxsnvYoadRg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Lester-Young-sepia-tone.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Lester-Young-sepia-tone.jpg\" alt=\"Lester Young sepia tone\" width=\"249\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6707\" \/><\/a>Sometimes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy, but not when malicious adware captures the computer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s operating system and paralyzes it. As <em>ArtsJournal<\/em> commander in chief Doug McLennan informed you, the attack came a couple of days ago and we were unable to post. The computer is back from digital intensive care, and <em>Rifftides<\/em> is back in business. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s celebrate with one of Lester Young\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finest achievements, his Keynote recording of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Happy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It ends with an eight-bar phrase that stands, after 71 years, as a perfect piece of melodic improvisation.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2CqspD_pCS4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><p>Lester Young, tenor saxophone; Johnny Guarnieri, piano; Slam Stewart, bass; Sid Catlett, drums. December 28, 1943.<\/p>\n<p>As I wrote in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/JAZZ-MATTERS-Reflections-Music-Makers\/dp\/1557280614\/?_encoding=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;keywords=Doug%20ramsey%20Jazz%20Matters&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;qid=1364713700&#038;s=books&#038;sr=1-1&#038;tag=rifftidougram-20\"target=\"_blank\"><em>Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers<\/em><\/a>, <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>That eight bars of music is one of the most memorized, and imitated in jazz. It has been repeated thousands of times not only by the army of tenor saxophonists who create themselves in the image of Lester Young, but also by players of every instrument and by dozens of arrangers and composers. That day in 1943, Prez didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know he was erecting a momument. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Suggestion: memorize Young\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final eight bars. Whistle that phrase when you awaken. Sing it in the shower. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be on your way to a wonderful day. To make it easier, use Jack Brownlow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lyric. The late pianist played with Young in Los Angeles in the mid-1940s. With permission of the Brownlow estate, here are the words. Play the track again and sing along beginning at 2:48.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">I can find a ray on the rainiest day.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">If I am with you, the cloudy skies all turn to blue.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">My disposition really changes when you&#8217;re near.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">Every day&#8217;s a happy day with you, my dear.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><small>&#8220;\u00a9Jack Brownlow, 1995<\/small><\/strong><\/div>\n<p><p>In an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freshsoundrecords.com\/the_keynote_jazz_collection_1941-1947_11-cd_box_set-cd-6062.html\"target=\"_blank\">invaluable 11-CD box<\/a>, Fresh Sound has reissued the jazz recordings Keynote made during the label\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short, amazingly productive life (1943-1947), which extended into the bebop era. Young\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quartet made the first Keynote sides, among them \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Happy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>In 1986, the Japanese producer and scholar Kiyoshi Koyama researched the archives and discovered alternate takes and other previously unreleased material from Keystone sessions, including an alternate take of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Happy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dan Morgenstern describes it in his book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Living-Jazz-reader-edited-Sheldon\/dp\/037542072X\/?_encoding=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;keywords=Morgenstern%20Living%20with%20Jazz&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;qid=1434068529&#038;s=books&#038;sr=1-1&#038;tag=rifftidougram-20\"target=\"_blank\"><em>Living With Jazz<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is a lovely performance, even more relaxed than the famous original version. At 3:41, it runs too long for a 10-inch 78&#151;thirty-six seconds longer than the issued take. The tempo is a mite slower, creating a dreamy mood, and Guarnieri takes a full chorus. To Lester students, the most interesting discovery will be that the famous tag by Pres, based on a quote from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Sweetie Went Away,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was a spontaneous invention. It is absent from the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153new\u00e2\u20ac\u009d take.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tvMo6A3thC0?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><p>The alternate take is included in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s\/?_encoding=UTF8&#038;ajr=0&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;field-keywords=The%20Keynote%20Jazz%20Collection&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;rh=n%3A163856011%2Ck%3AThe%20Keynote%20Jazz%20Collection&#038;tag=rifftidougram-20\"target=\"_blank\">this CD<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><p>Ave, Lester Young. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[contextly_auto_sidebar id=&#8221;iZwj6xH22IHyU3vTEnJynWxsnvYoadRg&#8221;] Sometimes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy, but not when malicious adware captures the computer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s operating system and paralyzes it. As ArtsJournal commander in chief Doug McLennan informed you, the attack came a couple of days ago and we were unable to post. The computer is back from digital intensive care, and Rifftides is back in business. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}