Young’s primary influence was, of all people, a white sax player from Paul Whiteman’s band named Frankie Trumbauer (“That was my man!” Young said in an interview). In the late 20s, Trumbauer and fellow Whiteman member, Bix Beiderbecke, teamed up to record their own arrangements with Bix on cornet and Trumbauer on C-melody sax. Trumbauer or Tram, as he was known, was highly regarded by the jazz world in the late twenties and influenced more musicians than just Lester Young. But Lester was his most important disciple, by far. Tram and Bix had been together a long time, even before Whiteman when they played in Detroit for Jean Goldkette and even before that. That the two men would hit it off is ironic because they were polar opposites. Bix was engaging and outgoing while Trumbauer was taciturn and quiet. Bix had a round, cherubic smiling face of unmistakable Teutonic good looks while Trumbauer, part American Indian, had a longer, less identifiable face that tended to look melancholy. Bix loved to talk about classical music and good books while Tram kept his opinions to himself. Bix, despite his musical prowess, was unschooled in both cornet and piano and could barely read music while Tram was well-schooled and played several instruments quite well (cornet, piano, flute, bassoon, trombone, violin) with sax actually being a less serious endeavor than the others. Bix loved the life of a jazz musician while Tram could take it or leave it (and he did, in fact, eventually leave it). Bix would stay up and party all night after a show but Tram returned home as early as possible to be with his wife and child.
Paul Whiteman Orch - Sugar (Surface Noise Reduced) - YouTube
In this 1928 Paul Whiteman clip of the great Maceo Pinkard song, Bix and Tram begin soloing together from 1:06 to 1:45 and while it doesn’t do their talents justice, it does demonstrate the relationship of the two men: Bix up there soaring on bright brass wings and Tram keeping Bix anchored so he doesn’t fly off too far. In the photo, Bix is in the first row on the far left and Tram is also in the first row just to the right of Whiteman.
While both men played with a light, airy touch, Bix had a very wide vocabulary on the cornet that Tram either lacked or did not make much use of and yet this made him all the more intriguing to listen to. He eschewed the arpeggiation and harmonic stylings prevalent in his day and did away with that “verticality” in ways that required no small degree of skill—above and beyond what other jazzmen had. Imagine seeing a beautiful, complex painting and yet upon close examination, you realize the artist did it all using nothing but horizontal brush strokes—no vertical strokes, no curls, no flourishes, even circular shapes were painstakingly done with horizontal strokes—that is how Trumbauer constructed his musical lines and phrasings. He either lacked or avoided certain skills but used other skills in his repertoire to great advantage. Quite simply no one else was doing anything like it.
Tram, Eddie Lang and Bix had played together years before in St. Louis with Joe Venuti and Adrian Rollini in a band that was considered to be exceptional.
But the recordings of Bix and Tram were more than simply great musicianship, they were setting the table for jazz balladeering as well the cool jazz that was still more than two decades away.
When Lester heard Bix and Tram laying it down on these recordings, a light went on in his head. Tram had a light, airy touch that differed fundamentally from Coleman Hawkins’ more aggressive style. Hawkins would stomp all over the beats putting his mark on them but Tram taught Lester how to dance over and around the beats with a step so light as to not even touch them. Like Trumbauer, Lester always played a little behind the beat. Tram taught Lester to float. Lester learned to use the upper register of the tenor sax in order to sound more like a C-melody sax and this, in turn, influenced Charlie Parker.
Trumbology - Frankie Trumbauer & his Orchestra - YouTube
From 1927 featuring Tram on C-melody sax, Bix on cornet, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet/alto sax, Bill Rank on trombone, Howdy Quicksell on banjo, Paul Mertz on piano and Chauncy Morehouse on drums.
Singin' the Blues. Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer 1927 - YouTube
From 1927, considered one of the finest jazz recordings ever made. Tram on C-melody sax, Bix on cornet, Eddie Lang (Salvatore Massaro) on guitar, Itzy Riskin on piano and Chauncy Morehouse on drums.