As the great Count Basie band's featured tenor sax players through the early 1940s, Lester Young defined the loose swing and riff-based soloing of jazz-Kansas City style. This photo of Young is from the Dave Dexter Collection in the Department of Special Collections at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. It forms part of the library's exhibit, "Kansas City: Paris of the Plains-The Jazz Age in Kansas City, 1920-40," which will remain on display through May 2001. The exhibit chronicles life in Kansas City during the Jazz Age, a time when the city was one of the most dynamic arts centers in America. Like Paris after World War I, Kansas City was a Mecca for artists, musicians, and writers; and young dreamers seeking excitement flocked to Kansas City, where the atmosphere was welcoming and unrestricted. Though worlds apart geographically, Kansas City and Paris shared a creative vitality that made them both Jazz age icons. Visit the exhibit on the Web at http://www.umkc.edu/lib/.