Celebrating Lazy Lester
“If Jimmy Reed was my drug of choice, his style was weed next to Lazy Lester and the other Excello artists’ smack.”
–Don Wilcock, Blues Blast Magazine
–Don Wilcock, Blues Blast Magazine
|
Lazy Lester died August 22, 2018 at his home in Paradise, CA. (Click here to read his obituary in the Washington Post.) The production team at Plugged In and Turned On In Paradise wish to extend our sympathies to Lazy Lester's family, friends and fans. We are so grateful for his joyous, humorous and always musical spirit, and to have had a chance to capture on film the magic he brought to the lively music scene we celebrate here in Paradise. |
|
What started in 1952 as a chance encounter on a bus with blues-maker Lightnin’ Slim led to a multi-decade career as a recording artist and, ultimately, to a 2012 induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis, Tennessee.
Through a combination of luck, pluck and raw talent, Leslie Johnson – a.k.a. “Lazy Lester” –became a cornerstone of the Excello Records artist roster, a label that championed Louisiana’s “swamp blues” style, and influenced rock and blues musicians for generations to come.
For the uninitiated, swamp blues is a rhythmic but laid-back, slow-tempo genre from the area around Baton Rouge that incorporates elements of New Orleans blues, zydeco, Cajun music, and soul. It’s a sound that inspired both American rock and the British Invasion.
Through a combination of luck, pluck and raw talent, Leslie Johnson – a.k.a. “Lazy Lester” –became a cornerstone of the Excello Records artist roster, a label that championed Louisiana’s “swamp blues” style, and influenced rock and blues musicians for generations to come.
For the uninitiated, swamp blues is a rhythmic but laid-back, slow-tempo genre from the area around Baton Rouge that incorporates elements of New Orleans blues, zydeco, Cajun music, and soul. It’s a sound that inspired both American rock and the British Invasion.
Photo: Bluesreviews — http://www.bluesreviews.it/gallerie/circuito-dei-club-terni-2007/
Lazy Lester’s harmonica, guitar, creative percussion and vocals can be heard on Excello recordings for Lightnin’ Slim, Slim Harpo, Silas Hogan, Lonesome Sundown, and Katie Webster, to name a few. His own hit records on Excello include popular cuts such as I'm a Lover Not a Fighter, I Hear You Knockin', and Sugar Coated Love. Notable acts that have covered Lester’s songs include the Kinks, the Flamin' Groovies, Freddy Fender, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Edmunds, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and more.
Lazy Lester’s role in the history of swamp blues music was highlighted on Nick Spitzer’s American Routes in 2002; and the next year was celebrated in the Martin Scorsese-produced documentary Lightning In A Bottle, a blues super concert filmed at Radio City Music Hall in New York that included B.B. King, Solomon Burke, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Buddy Guy, Levon Helm, Chuck D, the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, John Fogerty, and Aerosmith.
Lazy Lester’s role in the history of swamp blues music was highlighted on Nick Spitzer’s American Routes in 2002; and the next year was celebrated in the Martin Scorsese-produced documentary Lightning In A Bottle, a blues super concert filmed at Radio City Music Hall in New York that included B.B. King, Solomon Burke, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Buddy Guy, Levon Helm, Chuck D, the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, John Fogerty, and Aerosmith.
There's more you should know about Lazy Lester:
- He loved “real” country music even more than the blues.
- He had an inexhaustible supply of jokes.
- At the age of 84 he swore he was just entering his prime.
- He riffed with his blues harp on a front porch behind the Geico Gecko for a commercial that aired on national TV.
And the kicker: he made his home in Paradise, California!
Plugged In and Turned On In Paradise is proud to feature this performance of the legendary Lazy Lester.
Learn more at www.lazylester.net
|
|
|
