Limited to the period 1936-1944, this compilation does not claim to give an exhaustive idea of the career of the President (as Lester Young was called), especially since it omits the sides recorded with Billie Holiday and within the Count Basie orchestra (present on other volumes of the same collection). Nothing incidental here, however, but proof - through sometimes rare pieces - that Lester was an essential link in the evolution of the tenor towards the expression of emotions other than the male and "hairy" ones favored by Coleman Hawkins and his followers. On the saxophone, but also on the clarinet, in small or large groups, Prez distils throughout the 36 tracks of this double CD this art made of studied nonchalance and elastic swing which was to influence bop and give birth to cool jazz. An art whose traces can be found in Stan Getz from the 1940s onward, as well as today in a young saxophonist like Mark Turner. And, as always with Frémaux & Associés, Alain Gerber's excellent notes contribute to making this collection a must-have. --Thierry Quénum
