“I had this idea that there other businessmen like myself who could have been musicians who would like to have a place to play. So, I started Jazz at Noon,” Lieber told WCBS 880 reporter Alex Silverman on Friday.

He started playing at 14-years-old and he announced last month that Jazz at Noon’s 46th season would be its last.

“I just had to be here,” said one woman.

Les Lieber plays his saxophone at Jazz at Noon - New York, NY - Jun 10, 2011 (credit: Alex Silverman / WCBS 880)

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From far and wide, they came to the Players Club on Gramercy Park South.

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“From Long Beach, California, yes,” said a woman.

“He’s a city treasure,” said another.

He’s a man who still has a mind sharp enough to ponder questions like this: “Do your fingers tell your brain what to because your brain doesn’t have time to tell the fingers?”

And at 99-years-old, Lieber says, “There was such consternation in the audience.”

So, Jazz at Noon will return in the fall and Lieber is already looking forward to making it to a 50th season.

“I really had no right just, for myself, to call Jazz off,” he says. “All I have to do is blow and finger.”