Lester Young 1

The "Bird-Prez Birthday Broadcast", a 72 hour (and some years longer) marathon celebrating Lester Young and Charlie Parker around their birthday anniversaries, August 27 and August 29, is a long standing tradition at WKCR, and it is among our listeners' favorites.   In the 2020 edition of the show, I produced a segment that discussed Lester Young's court martial and confinement in US Army detention barracks towards the end of World War II, and then followed with a lengthy presentation of the recordings, starting with "DB Blues", that he made for the Aladdin label in the post war years.    This broadcast also contains an opening  sample of Lester's Verve recordings for casual pleasure listening, and after the intensive Aladdin material, concludes with Keynote sides and some Helen Humes and Una Mae Carlisle.