A medium-up swinger full of angular, stop-and-start rhythms which propel the melody forward and hold it together. This song's changes come from George Gershwin's Somebody Loves Me, slightly simplified from the original. The sinuous melodic lines often wander slightly outside the changes, most notably in the D section. Like Somebody Loves Me, the melody of Person-L has no repeats.
Unlike some other Billy Lester songs, there are no rhythm section figures here that complement the melody; the bass and drums play with a 4-feel throughout.
For a very different interpretation of the same changes, check out Doug Watkins' Bet.
Billy Lester recorded Person-L twice, of which this version is the second; another version is on trumpeter Simon Wettenhall's 2000 album "Oceanic Art," Billy's only recording as a sideman so far.
In addition to our lead sheets, we have a piano part showing how Billy plays the head on the recording. He doubles the melody with the trumpet throughout, in right-hand single lines. His left hand chordal accompaniment is quite low in register.
William "Billy" Lester is one of the few musicians alive today who are truly continuing the tradition of the Lennie Tristano school. His compositions are firmly within that tradition, using the harmonic frameworks of Great American Songbook standards to create inventive, unpredictable melodies; his are often not quite as lopsided as those of Tristano and some of his followers, but with quite a bit of reharmonization of the source material. Billy is a wildly creative improviser with a sly melodic sense. His playing and composing offer a very personal, modern take on the Tristano tradition. Read more...
