Count Basie & His Orch. 1938 Randall's Island NYC

Love Prez's shades..Probably the earliest he ever got up...

I always wondered why lester held his sax that way, i can't bear to have my sax anything but adjusted to me

I read somewhere that he held his sax at an angle because he got so used to practising sitting up in bed, that he became comfortable holding the sax this way all the time. Don't know how true that is, but I'd love it to be true!

Lester at his best. Basie at his best. America at its best.

Sorry, I meant "I Got Rhythm".

I believe previous viewers have pointed out that this soundless video of the Randall's Island performance uses Lester's studio-recorded solo on "Every Tub" .

To all you Lesterpeople: Can you dig it? It's Lester's centennial birthday next week, August 27.  Ivey-divey. My President is Lester Young.

Lester Young is my main man! Lester is the one that inspired me to pick up the tenor sax a few years ago, and I'm only in my mid-20s. Prez, you were the best!

Great! That's so cool to hear a young guy inspired by Lester enough to start playing the tenor these days. Good luck to you,

Actually a close inspection shows pretty clearly that the black and white revelers were mostly in their own separate sections. But the shared love of black rhythm permeates throughout. I just wish white and black people today had that JOY for good jazz.