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“One O’Clock Jump” was really a showcase for the fierce tenor battles between Herschel Evans and Lester Young that became a band mainstay. The two couldn’t have been more different; Evans was a tough, fiery soloist in the style of Coleman Hawkins, whereas Young favored an airy approach in the upper register. But Basie found that if he pitted the two against each other, it brought out the best in both of them. Basie intentionally fanned the flames, fixing it so that people really thought that there was a feud between the two and acting as the instigator. Basie said, “I used to tell Herschel that Lester had said something about his solo, and then tell Lester that Herschel has said something like, ‘You know, that cat really thinks he really got me on that last go round.’ And it was on. They would both be raring to go.” But despite rumors and appearances (they were placed at opposite ends of the bandstand) the two respected each other and were close friends. The two traded the opening salvo; Evans traditionally got the first solo on “One O’Clock Jump” and Young followed.

On June 6, 1938, the band recorded Blue And Sentimental, a feature for Herschel Evans’ Texas tenor, with a solo that possesses the emotion and inner strength to move us still. The splendid trumpet growls here sre by iron-lip lead-man Ed Lewis; and what about Lester’s eerie clarinet that creates such a perfect foil for Evans’ opulence towards the end.

Those two guys (Lester Young and Herschel Evans) loved each other, but the public didn’t know it, and they came to see a battle … because (Young and Evans) played as if they were really battling for blood.”