Sonny Lester

Sonny Lester was a producer of big band, jazz, and easy listening albums, and followed in the limelight of his contempories like Enoch Light. He also wound up, unintentionally, becoming influential among the sample-hungry DJs of the 1990s as the originator of the Groove Merchant label. Lester was born in New York City in 1924, and began his music career as a trumpeter, appearing in several big bands until being drafted into the army. After WWII, he returned to New York and made a name for himself as a musician and as the man behind a successful string of Play Along With the NB...