Olivia (1951

The conventional wisdom has it that Lester Young’s playing after his desperately unhappy year in the Army (1944/5) was never again to reach the high creative level it achieved over the first decade of his professional life.

My Cousin Rachel is adapted from Daphne Du Maurier's gothic romance novel of the same name, about a young Englishman called Philip who inherits his guardian's Cornish estate. Philip soon finds himself falling for his beguiling cousin Rachel, but his feelings are complicated when evidence suggests that she murdered Philip's guardian and is only showing an interest in Philip to steal his inheritance. Following this, the story follow Philip’s revenge against his mysterious, beautiful cousin. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms. This is not the first time Du Maurier's 1951 novel has been adapted for the big screen. It was made into a film only a year after publication, starring Olivia de Havilland and Richard Burton, and was nominated for four Oscars.

One of the great originals in the jazz hierarchy, Lester Young was without doubt the most influential tenor saxophonist after Coleman Hawkins. A highly sensitive, graceful player, and an enigmatic personality, Young had a winning sense of time and space and a most engaging gift for improvising on songs rather than chord sequences. He played with great feeling for the lyric of a song with a very special, bittersweet brand of melancholy. There are some jazz exponents whose recorded work is worth preservation and close attention. Lester is one such jazz exponent. 2xHD are proud to bring present this historic recording to the digital high resolution world.