Lem Winchester is one of the tragic figures in jazz history. Born in Philadelphia in 1928, he grew up in Wilmington, Delaware ironically this is also where Clifford Brown was from.

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Lem was a hobby musician for most of his adult life, but his real job was serving the police force in Wilmington, DE. He would sit in at nightclubs after he finished his work shifts, often still in the police uniform.

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After word got around of his talent, he headlined the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 that's when he decided to start seriously pursuing music as a career. His style is clearly influenced by Milt Jackson, but you can hear that he was refining his own distinctive voice, even in the relatively limited catalog of recordings he left behind.

"Butterfly" is a tune that I wasn't familiar with, and it strikes me as one of those tunes that needs the right treatment to come across... Lem Winchester absolutely nails it here bringing out the subtle beauty of this simple tune. I don't think the original song has as much poignancy as this recording does, but man.... how breathtaking is this recording? I can't stop smiling when I listen to it.

Here's the original:    • Video  

I hope that this video (and this video series) will send you down a rabbit hole to discover music that is just as timeless and beautiful as the famous jazz tunes we all know and love there is a huge world of music out there, and some of it deserves to be hear. Lem Winchester is one of those people.

As always, thank you for watching and I hope you enjoy this video!

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