Lester Young Laughs with Two Trumpets
Young's tenor floats easy and conversational over Edison and Eldridge, like friends talking after hours.
By 1958, Lester Young had already spent three decades reshaping how the tenor saxophone could sound in jazz. Laughin' to Keep from Cryin' (1958) came late in his career, when his tone had grown thinner and more fragile than in his Count Basie days, but no less intelligent. The album pairs him with two strong trumpeters — Harry "Sweets" Edison and Roy Eldridge — and the interplay between them is the main reason to listen.
This isn't a masterpiece, and it doesn't need to be. It's a solid working session where Young still knows how to navigate a tune and leave space for the brass. Edison and Eldridge were both seasoned players who understood the language Young spoke, and they respond without stepping on him. The album sits somewhere in the middle of Young's later output — after his best work with Basie in the 1930s and 40s, but before the really diminished sessions of the early 1960s. If you know Young from his classic small-group records, this one is worth hearing but not essential. If you've never heard him, start with those earlier sides instead.
The record's title hints at the philosophy behind it: you keep playing, you keep smiling, you keep going. That was Young's approach by this point in his life. He wasn't trying to prove anything. He was just a saxophonist making music with musicians he trusted. Sometimes that's enough.
Who's playing
Hank Jonespiano
Herb Ellisguitar
Lester Youngclarinet, tenor saxophone
Harry “Sweets” Edisontrumpet
Roy Eldridgetrumpet
Mickey Sheendrums
Where next?
More by Lester Young
In Washington, D.C. 1956, Volume One 1956
Pres and Sweets 1955
Le Dernier Message de Lester Young 1959
In Washington, D.C. 1956 Volume Two 1956
The musicians on this record
Herb Ellis Meets Jimmy Giuffre 1959
Herb Ellis
plays guitar here
plays guitar here
The Art Tatum - Roy Eldridge - Alvin Stoller - John Simmons Quartet 1955
Roy Eldridge
plays trumpet here
plays trumpet here
The Talented Touch 1958
Hank Jones
plays piano here
plays piano here
