Lesterese

Lester Young, a seminal figure in Swing and Bebop, played tenor saxophone with many jazz greats. Aside from his music, what attracted me most about The Prez was his fashion sense and use of language.

In the 40s, most big band musicians wore formal wear to perform. Coming from a more relaxed, Kansas City tradition, Lester wore rumpled suits and a pork pie hat. His hat became so iconic that when he died, Charlie Mingus entitled his elegy for Lester, Good-Bye Pork Pie Hat. With his horn's smooth tones, sophisticated harmonies, his relaxed dress and flippant attitude, Young embodied the ethos of cool.

For me, his most fascinating trait was the language he used. Jive is nothing new to musicians. But Lester didn't just popularize the patois like Cab Calloway or Mezz Mezzrow, he created his own vocabulary. One of words he coined, bread meaning money, made it's way into the Jive Dictionary,

His friends would marvel at this unique vernacular calling it Lesterese.

• Bob Crosby - police or other law enforcement officer
• His people - the keys on his saxophone
• George Washington - a song's bridge
• Bomber - a drummer with a heavy touch
• Way back - an old girlfriend

Like many of his ilk, the oppression of Jim Crow and personal demons shortened the life of this master musician. But his music lives on as does his language.

"My people were smooth during that George Washington. Too bad the bread didn't smell as sweet. Watch out for Bob Crosby, he's been sniffin' round that bomber's way back." - as ever BB

"I stay cool, and dig all jive,

That's the way I stay alive.

My motto, as I live and learn,
is

Dig and be dug
In return." - Langston Hughes