Lester in Paris - His last days

In January 1959, Lester Young was in Paris for a series of gigs at the Cellar Club on rue de D'Artois, the Blue Note Café. His band mates included: Rene Urtreger (p), Kenny Clarke (d), Jimmy Gourley (g), and Pierre Michelot (b). On February 6th he meets with with jazz journalist François Postif for an interview. These two events come together in this work in progress, "President of Beauty: the Triumph & Tragedy of Lester Young." Pres recorded "I can't get started" at Eddie Barclay's Studio on March 4, 1959. After the recording he returns to his Manhattan hotel room overlooking Birdland and at 3:00am on March 15th, the man whose breath blew life into a million "stories" drew his last.

This film sketch was put together by filmmaker Henry Ferrini to help raise funds for his ongoing film project about Lester.