About Lazy Lester

First of all, Lazy Lester acknowledges the appropriation of his radio name from the REAL Lazy Lester, Leslie Johnson (with apologies if neccesary). It started out as a joke, and just kinda stuck!  There, I've said it.

Lester was turned on to the blues via contemporary artists of the late 1960s / early 1970s when he was an impressionable teenager.  Your Claptons and Mayalls, etc.  British invasion stuff.  Always liked the Stones too, but weren't they Rock 'n' Roll? 

However, his life was changed forever by two events around that time:

• Watching Brownie McGhee lurch onto the stage at Dallas Brooks Hall, Melbourne.  Close behind him, with one hand on Brownie's shoulder, trailed the blind Sonny Terry.  Brownie helped Sonny into his chair and for the next 90 minutes, the two of them mesmerised their audience with the powerful simplicity of their music.  No speaker stacks. No gimmicks.  Real music.
• Buying a copy of the Great Blues Men double album (Vanguard VSD 25/26) on 24th April 1973 (the date is scrawled inside the sleeve of the LP), opening his ears to the likes of Rev Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Sleepy John Estes, Big Bill Broonzy....

Who were the men that sang and played this powerful music?  What strange names they had!  Why was a minister playing the devil's music?  What was the real meaning behind those lyrics?  And there were women doing this too? And what connection does contemporary blues have to this era?

Discovering the answers to these questions has become Lester's passion!  As a result, JuzBlooz the radio program is about more than just blues music - it explores the context in which the blues arose, blues themes, influences on contemporary artists, and airs the scratchiest Charley Patton 78s hard up against the highly produced (well, sometimes!) music of today.

Email: juzblooz@hotmail.com