Gelly/Being Prez, 9. Jumpin’ at Mesner’s

The three-year contract with Philo, a new label, had been negotiated by Norman Granz on Lester’s behalf while he was still confined at Fort Gordon. Towards the end of the war, small record labels seemed to be springing up almost daily. The dispute between the AFM and the record companies had led to a curious state of affairs, in which anyone who was ready to agree to the AFM’s terms could obtain the union’s approval and set up in the record business, while established major companies which held out remained strike-bound. This produced a vast bubble of tiny enterprises run by dreamers, sharp operators, would-be tycoons and ambitious fans, few of them with any real expertise. Some didn’t even have offices and reputedly kept their paperwork in their hats.1 Compared with this Dickensian rabble, Philo’s proprietors, the brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner, were paragons of good business practice. Lester Young was their first contracted artist.