Les beach

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Leslie "Les" Stand (actually Leslie Roy Strandt , * 1925 ; † 2001 ) was an American jazz organist .

Strand worked in Chicago from the 1940s; as an electronic organ he used an instrument made by the Chicago luthier Baldwin to play bebop at the end of the decade . The first albums were created during this time for Fantasy Records , Les Strand on the Baldwin Organ (with Max Mariash, drums) and Les Strand Plays Jazz Classics (with Claude Schneider, guitar), on which he recorded jazz standards such as “ My Funny Valentine ”, “ Willow Weep for Me ”,“ Moonlight in Vermont ”or“ One O'Clock Jump ”plays. Strand had chosen to work only in Chicago; he performed in local theaters and did not play in the major cities on the east coast. In 1964 he gave up his musician career and from then on worked as a music teacher. In his retirement he lived in Kansas City. One last album (which was created for promotional purposes) he recorded in Los Angeles in late 1972 ( The Winners , Yamaha), on which Barney Kessel and Shelly Manne participated. In the field of jazz, he was involved in six recording sessions.

Strand was considered a pioneer of the jazz organ by his contemporaries; Jimmy Smith called it the Art Tatum of the Organ .

Discographic notes

  • Les Strand Plays Duke Ellington (On the Hammond Organ) (Fantasy, 1958)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed January 20, 2018)
  2. ^ Joseph F. Clarke: Pseudonyms . BCA, 1977, p. 155.
  3. ↑ John Steuart Wilson: The collector's jazz: modern . Lippincott, 1959.
  4. ^ David H. Rosenthal: Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965 . New York, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 111
  5. ^ A b Geoff Alexander: The Jazz Organ: A Brief History . In: Keyboard . tape 15 . GPI Publications, 1988, pp. 46 ( afana.org ).
  6. ↑ a b Keyboard, Volume 15, Issues 1-9, GPI Publications, 1988, p. 46
  7. ^ David H. Rosenthal: Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music 1955-1965 . Oxford University Press, September 9, 1993, ISBN 978-0-19-535899-5 , pp. 110-.
personal data
SURNAME Beach, les
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beach, Leslie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1925
DATE OF DEATH 2001