TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Lester Willis Young, or the "Prez," was a jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Billie Holiday gave him this nickname in honor of President Franklin Roosevelt, whom she considered "the greatest man around."
Young came to prominence as a member of Count Basie's orchestra. He played with a relaxed tone and sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike."
He influenced many musicians, such as John Coltrane, Stan Getz, and B.B. King, as well as non-musicians like poets Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He is credited with popularizing "cool" to describe something fashionable. He is rumored to have introduced "bread" as slang for money, often asking, "How does the bread smell?" to inquire about gig pay.
This has been Rapp On Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible in part by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.