Jack Lesberg


Jack Lesberg was an American jazz double-bassist.
Lesberg performed with many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Jack Teagarden, Sarah Vaughan and Benny Goodman, with whom he went on several international tours. He also performed in the New York City Symphony under Leonard Bernstein in the 1940s.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, Lesberg played at the Cocoanut Grove on November 28, 1942, when 492 people lost their lives in a fire. His escape was memorialized by fellow bassist Charles Mingus in an unpublished section of Mingus's autobiography Beneath the Underdog; this passage was read by rapper Chuck D. on the Mingus tribute album, Weird Nightmare.
Lesberg continued to tour in the 1980s and was interviewed for KCEA radio in 1984, following a performance in Menlo Park, California. During the taped interview he spoke of the many bands and performers he worked with and expressed his feelings that he felt blessed to be a musician.
He died of Alzheimer's in Englewood, New Jersey at the age of 85.

Discography

;As co-leader
  • We've Got Rhythm/Live at Hanratty's
  • No Amps Allowed
;As sideman
With George Barnes
  • Guitar in Velvet
  • Country Jazz
  • Movin' Easy
  • Guitar Galaxies
  • Guitars Galore
With Tony BennettI've Gotta Be Me
With Ruth Brown
With Eddie Condon
  • In Japan
With Urbie Green
With Coleman Hawkins
With Johnny Hodges
With John LennonImagine
With the Henri René Orchestra
With Ralph Sutton & Ruby Braff
  • ''R & R''