Lester Young
Tenor Sax Solo on
Indiana

About

Lester Young's tenor saxophone solo opens the improvising on "Indiana" from The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio. Young takes four choruses over the 32-bar AB form in A-flat at a brisk 184 BPM, the most extended solo on the track. James F. Hanley's 1917 composition, commonly known as "Back Home Again in Indiana," became a jazz standard through its adoption by bebop musicians who favored its chord changes for improvisation. Young's four-chorus solo demonstrates his ability to sustain melodic interest across an extended form, each chorus revealing new facets of his approach to the harmony.

Lester Young was 42 to 43 years old at the time.