‘Complete Lester Young’ Set Includes a Sweets Tribute

In April of this year, three months before he died at the age of 83, trumpeter Harry Edison wrote a tribute to his great friend, Basie cohort and the man who gave him the name “Sweets,” saxophonist Lester Young. Edison’s essay is included in the liner notes to “The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve,” an upcoming eight-CD set that includes dates produced by Jazz at the Philharmonic impresario Norman Granz between 1946 and Young’s death in 1959.

The notes give a unique personal view of the wispy-toned, deceptively relaxed tenor player who influenced saxophonists from Charlie Parker to Stan Getz.

Young, writes Edison in the tribute titled “I Remember Prez,” will not only “be remembered as a legend in this art form” but also as “a bad dice shooter . . . the first to want to shoot craps on the bandstand [and] the first to crap out.”

Young gave him the “Sweets” moniker, Edison recalls, when they were roommates traveling with Basie circa 1938. “He said my sound was so sweet it could rot a baby’s teeth. As a roommate, he was the best--never loud . . . loved to joke. . . .”

Young was famous for creating his own vocabulary, and is credited with bringing jive meanings to such words as “cat” (a person), “fuzz” (police) and “crib” (home).

In addition to the Edison tribute, the new CD collection’s booklet includes “A Hipster’s Dictionary” of his cut-and paste linguistics (i.e., “Bing Crosby” stood in for “police officer,” “Johnny Deathbed” noted someone who was ill).

Young, who struggled with alcohol and declining fortunes in his last years, was the inspiration (along with pianist Bud Powell) for Bertrand Tavernier’s 1986 film “ ‘Round Midnight,” starring saxophonist and Young disciple Dexter Gordon.

In a line that takes on larger meaning since his death, Edison writes, “I can hardly find the words to express how extremely important it is to keep jazz living.”

“The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve” will be released Oct. 19. A single CD compilation of 13 selections from the collection (without liner notes), titled “Lester Swings,” already has been released.

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Farmer’s Recollections: When flugelhorn player Art Farmer died this week in New York at 71 (his obituary appeared in Thursday’s Times), it was cause to revisit “Central Avenue Sounds,” the invaluable oral history of jazz in Los Angeles published in 1998 and recently issued in paperback. Farmer was one of the musicians whose recollections are featured, including these thoughts on the legacy of Central Avenue:

“My final thoughts are kind of sad, because when you go there now, I feel like I’m stepping into a graveyard. It’s very emotional to see something that played such a large part in your life, and now there’s nothing left there. Nothing would give you the impression that this place had ever been anything other than what it is right now. And you have to stop and ask yourself, ‘Well, is it all an illusion?’ . . . And that’s the big question. You know, I’m 63 years old, and when I first went there I was, say, 16 or something like that, and what happened then at that age has influenced me until now. . . .

“One day things that happened here will be looked on with more interest than there is now. But the people who did it will be long gone.”

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Factory Update: The Los Angeles satellite of New York’s downtown music shrine the Knitting Factory is now expected to open sometime in March or April, according to Knitting Factory founder Michael Dorf. Inside and exterior demolition of the site at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. has been completed, and construction of two performance spaces and a bar-restaurant has now begun. Earlier it had been anticipated that the site would open as early as January.

“This has been one of the slower processes in my life,” says Dorf, who’s relocated to Los Angeles while establishing the site. “But it’s great to be working with a community where you feel you’re really wanted, unlike New York, where Mayor Giuliani isn’t friendly to the arts and doesn’t want anything to do with this kind of entertainment.”

Rather than competing with the existing Hollywood music venues, Dorf says the Factory’s mix of eclectic jazz, new music and pop bands will fit in nicely with the local music scene. Stay tuned.

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Downtown L.A.: The sound of jazz and new music will echo in the downtown art district on Thursday nights thanks to a new series at the DownTown Playhouse, 121 Vignes St. (between 1st and 2nd streets). Says series co-producer and pianist Don Preston: “There’s a huge arts community downtown but not a lot happening there.”

The series, which Preston says will concentrate on the avant-garde side of the musical ledger, features drummer Peter Erskine’s trio next Thursday, trumpeter Elliott Caine’s quintet on Oct. 21 and the team of keyboardist Preston and saxophonist Bunk Gardner, both former members of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, on Oct. 28. Future dates include pianist Alan Broadbent on Nov. 18 and woodwind player Vinny Golia with the American String Quartet on Dec. 9. In keeping with the downtown scene’s eclectic nature, each performance opens with Robert Mearns’ short one-act play “Now Departing.” Admission is $10. Information: (213) 626-6906.

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Jazz Rush: The Jazz Bakery now makes student rush tickets available at half-price Sunday through Thursday nights. A current student ID card is all that’s required to get in on the deal. Information: (310) 271-9039.