Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 21, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.

Biography[link]

Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten (an older brother was pianist Hank Jones and a younger brother was drummer Elvin Jones). Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen. He served in U.S. Army bands during World War II (1943–46).

After Army service including an association with the U.S. Military School of Music and working with area bands in Des Moines and Oklahoma City, Thad became a member of the Count Basie Orchestra in May 1954. He was featured as a soloist on such well-known tunes as April in Paris, Shiny Stockings and Corner Pocket. However, his main contribution was his nearly two dozen arrangements and compositions for the Basie Orchestra, including The Deacon, H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness, in honor of the band’s command performance in London), Counter Block, and lesser known gems such as Speaking of Sounds. His hymn-like ballad To You was performed by the Basie band combined with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in their only recording together, and the recording Dance Along With Basie contains nearly an entire album of Jones’ uncredited arrangements of standard tunes.

Jones left the Basie Orchestra in 1963 to become a freelance arranger and studio player in New York. In 1965, he and drummer Mel Lewis formed The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra. The group initially began with informal late night jam sessions amongst New York's top studio musicians. The group eventually began performing at the Village Vanguard in February 1966, to wide acclaim, and continued with Jones in the lead for twelve years. They won a 1978 Grammy Award for their album Live in Munich.^[1] Jones also taught at William Paterson College in New Jersey, which is now the site of the Thad Jones Archive, containing pencil scores and vintage photos as part of the Living Jazz Archives.

Jones' big band arranging style was unique, especially from the standpoint of featuring dissonant voicings in a tonal context. This required the members of his big band to play correctly in tune, otherwise the dense chords he wrote would not sound correct. Minor 2nds and major 7ths are often featured in his voicings, especially when the entire band plays a long, powerful chord that some would describe as having "bite".^{[citation needed]}

One of the more notable albums he made in this regard is Suite for Pops recorded on the A&M Records "Horizon" label (now out of print) in the early 70's.^{[citation needed]} It also featured the intense bebop improvisations of saxophonist Billy Harper and the high note screech playing of lead trumpet player Jon Faddis.

In 1978, Thad suddenly moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, (to the great surprise of his New York band mates), where several other American jazz musicians had gone to live. Upon Thad’s 1978 departure to live in Europe, the band continued as the Mel Lewis Orchestra until Lewis’ death in February 1990, after which they performed as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, still including several Thad Jones alumni, continuing the Monday night Village Vanguard tradition into its fifth decade.

Jones resided in Copenhagen from 1978–1984. He formed a new big band Eclipse which he recorded a live album with, Eclipse.^[2] Several Americans were on the album, pianist Horace Parlan, baritonist Sahib Shihab, trumpeter Tim Hagans and trombonist/vocalist Richard Boone along with trombonist Bjarne Thanning, trumpeter Egon Petersen, altoist Ole Nielsen, tenor saxophonist Bent Jædig and Jesper Lundgaard on bass. He further composed for The Danish Radio Big Band and taught jazz at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen. He studied composition formally during this period, as well as taking up the valve trombone. In February 1985, he returned to the U.S. to take the leadership of the Basie Orchestra upon his former leader’s death, fronting the Basie band in numerous tours, and writing arrangements for recordings and performances with vocalist Caterina Valente and Manhattan Transfer, but had to step down due to ill health. He returned to his home in Copenhagen for the last few months of his life. He died on August 21, 1986 after being hospitalized for months but his cause of death was not published. In later years his playing ability was overshadowed by his composing and arranging skills.^{[citation needed]} His best known composition is the standard "A Child is Born".

At the time of his death he had a six year old child, also named Thad Jones, with his wife Lis Jones, a daughter Thedia and a son Bruce. He is buried in Copenhagen's Vestre Kirkegård Cemetery (Western Churchyard Cemetery).^[3]

Discography[link]

As leader or co-leader[link]

• The Fabulous Thad Jones (Debut, 1954) with Frank Wess, John Dennis, Hank Jones, Charles Mingus, Kenny Clarke, Max Roach
• Detroit-New York Junction (Blue Note, 1956)
• The Magnificent Thad Jones (Blue Note, 1956) with Billy Mitchell, Barry Harris, Percy Heath, Max Roach
• After Hours (OJC, 1957) with Frank Wess, Kenny Burrell, Mal Waldron, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor
• Mad Thad (Period Records, 1957) with Henry Coker, Frank Foster, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Jones, Doug Watkins, Elvin Jones
• Greetings and Salutations (Four Leaf Clover, 1977) with Mel Lewis, Jon Faddis and the Swedish Radio Jazz Group (Lennart Åberg, Arne Domnérus, Bengt Hallberg, Georg Riedel, Rune Gustafsson, ...)
• The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Quartet (Artist House, 1978) with Mel Lewis, Harold Danko, Rufus Reid
• Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and UMO (RCA, 1978) with Mel Lewis and UMO (the Finnish 'New Music Orchestra')
• Live at Montmartre (Storyville, 1978) with Idrees Sulieman, Allan Botschinsky, Jesper Thilo, NHOP.
• Eclipse (Storyville, 1979)^[4] with Tim Hagans, Sahib Shihab, Horace Parlan, Jesper Lundgaard

With the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra[link]

• Opening Night (2000) Alan Grant Presents
• Presenting Thad Jones / Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (1966) Solid State Records
• Presenting Joe Williams and Thad Jones / Mel Lewis, The Jazz Orchestra (1966) Solid State
• Live at the Village Vanguard (1967) Solid State
• The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Featuring Miss Ruth Brown (1968) Solid State
• Monday Night (1968) Solid State
• Central Park North (1969) Solid State
• Basle, 1969 (recorded 1969, released 1996) TCB Music
• Consummation (1970) Solid State / Blue Note
• Suite for Pops (1972) Horizon / A&M
• Live in Tokyo (1974) Denon Jazz
• Potpourri (1974) Philadelphia International
• Thad Jones / Mel Lewis and Manuel De Sica (1974) Pausa
• New Life: Dedicated to Max Gordon (1975) A&M
• Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra With Rhoda Scott aka Rhoda Scott in New York with... (1976)
• Live in Munich (1976) Horizon / A&M
• It Only Happens Every Time (1977) EMI Records – with Monica Zetterlund
• Body and Soul aka Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra in Europe (1978) West Wind Jazz – Live in Berlin
• A Touch of Class (1978) West Wind Jazz – Live in Warsaw

As sideman[link]

With Lou Donaldson

• Sassy Soul Strut (1973)

With Dexter Gordon

• Tangerine (1972)

With Herbie Hancock

• Speak Like a Child (1968)

With Coleman Hawkins

• The Hawk Swings (1960)

With Milt Jackson

• For Someone I Love (Riverside, 1963)

With Elvin Jones

• Elvin! (Riverside, 1961-62)
• And Then Again (Atlantic, 1965)
• Midnight Walk (Atlantic, 1966)
• Mr. Jones (Blue Note, 1973)

With Charles Mingus

• The Jazz Experiments of Charlie Mingus (Bethlehem, 1954)

With Thelonious Monk

• 5 by Monk by 5 (1959)

With Oliver Nelson

• More Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse!, 1964)
• The Spirit of '67 with Pee Wee Russell (Impulse!, 1967)

With Shirley Scott

• For Members Only (Impulse!, 1963)
• Roll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands (Impulse!, 1966)

With Ben Webster

• Soulmates (with Joe Zawinul) (1963)
• See You at the Fair (1964)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Thad Jones at Find-A-Grave
• That Jones at Allmusic.com

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

Mel Lewis
Mel Lewis performing in 1978
Background information
Birth name	Melvin Sokoloff
Born	(1929-05-10)May 10, 1929 Buffalo, New York United States
Died	February 2, 1990(1990-02-02) (aged 60) New York City, New York United States
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Musician, bandleader
Instruments	Drums
Years active	1954 - 1990
Labels	Telarc, Atlantic, Solid State Records, A&M, Philadelphia International, VSOP, Blue Note
Associated acts	The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman

Mel Lewis (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990) was the stage name of an American drummer, jazz musician and bandleader. During his life, Lewis was a prominent solo performer, and a professor at William Paterson University, during which time he also authored a book on the art of drumming. In addition, Lewis extended his talents as session musician. Throughout his life he garnered fourteen Grammy nominations.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Lewis was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents. He started playing professionally as a teen, eventually joining Stan Kenton in 1954. His musical career brought him to Los Angeles in 1957 and New York in 1963.

Career[link]

In 1966 in New York, he teamed up with Thad Jones to lead the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. The group started as informal jam sessions with the top studio and jazz musicians of the city, but eventually began performing regularly on Monday nights at the famed venue, the Village Vanguard. In 1979 the band won a Grammy for their album Live in Munich.^[1] Like all of the musicians in the band, it was only a side line. In 1976, he released an album titled "Mel Lewis and Friends" that featured him leading a smaller sextet that allowed freedom and improvisation.

The band became The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, but when Jones moved to Denmark in 1978, it became known as Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra. Lewis continued to lead the band, recording and performing every Monday night at the Village Vanguard until shortly before his death from cancer at age 60. The band still performs on most Monday nights at the Village Vanguard; today it's known as The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and has released several CDs.

The sound[link]

Lewis's cymbal work was unique and added qualities to his groups that are hard to describe, but that are recognized immediately and virtually impossible to emulate (Buddy Rich once said that "Mel Lewis doesn't sound like anybody except himself"). He insisted on playing genuine Turkish-made cymbals, switching from the Zildjian brand later in his career to the Istanbul brand. His setup included a 21-inch ride on his right, an 19-inch crash-ride on his left, and his signature sound, a 22-inch swish "knocker" with rivets on his far right. The dark, overtone-rich sound of these rather lightweight cymbals, combined with the rich, warm sound of his wood-shell drums (he almost exclusively played Gretsch drums, although in later years was playing Slingerland drums) equipped with natural calfskin top heads (again, Lewis was a purist), using regular mylar heads on the bottom, exuded a veritable treasure trove of sound. Lewis once described his playing philosophy of not "pushing or pulling" but "supporting." "If you watch me, it doesn't look like I'm doing much," he said in an interview, describing his subtle but highly musical style. He could play at a break-neck tempo for lengthy periods and hardly break a sweat. He wasn't flashy or loud—just tasteful, and highly musical.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1980s, Lewis was diagnosed with melanoma. It was identified in his arm, then surfaced in his lungs, and ultimately went to his brain. He died on February 2, 1990, just days before his band was to celebrate its 24th anniversary at the Village Vanguard.

Discography[link]

This section requires expansion.

Mel Lewis and the Orchestra[link]

• Naturally, 1979, Telarc
• Live in Montreux: Mel Lewis Plays Herbie Hancock, 1980, MPS Records/ Pausa
• Live at the Village Vanguard, ...Featuring the Music of Bob Brookmeyer, 1980
• Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra, 1982, Finesse
• 20 Years at the Village Vanguard, 1985, Atlantic
• Definitive Thad Jones, Vol. 1, 1988, Music Masters Jazz
• Definitive Thad Jones, Vol. 2, 1988, Music Masters Jazz
• Soft Lights and Hot Music, 1988, Music Masters Jazz
• To You: A Tribute to Mel Lewis, 1990, Music Masters Jazz

Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra[link]

• Opening Night (recorded 1966, released 2000) Alan Grant Presents
• Presenting Thad Jones / Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (1966) Solid State Records
• Presenting Joe Williams and Thad Jones / Mel Lewis, The Jazz Orchestra (1966) Solid State
• Live at the Village Vanguard (1967) Solid State
• The Big Band Sound of Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Featuring Miss Ruth Brown (1968) Solid State
• Monday Night (1968) Solid State
• Central Park North (1969) Solid State
• Basle, 1969 (recorded 1969, released 1996) TCB Music
• Consummation (1970) Solid State / Blue Note
• Suite for Pops (1972) Horizon / A&M
• Live in Tokyo (1974) Denon Jazz
• Potpourri (1974) Philadelphia International
• Thad Jones / Mel Lewis and Manuel De Sica (1974) Pausa
• New Life: Dedicated to Max Gordon (1975) A&M
• Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra With Rhoda Scott aka Rhoda Scott in New York with... (1976)
• Live in Munich (1976) Horizon / A&M
• It Only Happens Every Time (1977) EMI Records – with Monica Zetterlund
• Body and Soul aka Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra in Europe (1978) West Wind Jazz – Live in Berlin
• A Touch of Class (1978) West Wind Jazz – Live in Warsaw

Video performances[link]

• Jazz Casual – Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra... (recorded 1968) – a 1968 Television appearance

Compilations[link]

• The Blue Note Reissue Series: Thad Jones / Mel Lewis (recorded 1966 - 1970) Blue Note
• The Complete Solid State Recordings of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra (recorded 1966 - 1970) Mosaic Records / Blue Note
• In Europe (2007) ITM
• The Complete (Live in) Poland Concerts 1976 & 1978 (2009) Gambit

Jones and Lewis as guest bandleaders / performers with other orchestras[link]

• Greetings and Salutations (1975) Town Crier – Jones, Lewis and Jon Faddis with the Swedish Radio Jazz Group, Stockholm
• Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and UMO (1977) RCA Records – Jones and Lewis with the UMO Jazz Orchestra, Helsinki

As sideman[link]

With Dizzy Gillespie

• The New Continent (Limelight, 1962)

With Joe Lovano

• Tones, Shapes & Colors (Soul Note, 1985)

With Gary McFarland

• Point of Departure (Impulse!, 1963)
• Tijuana Jazz (Impulse!, 1965)

With Chico O'Farrill

• Nine Flags (Impulse!, 1966)

With Shirley Scott

• Latin Shadows (Impulse!, 1965)

Filmography[link]

Concert performances[link]

• 1999 Jazz at the Smithsonian (Kultur Video)
• 2003 Jazz Casual - Thad Jones & Mel Lewis and Woody Herman (Jazz Casual)
• 2005 Jazz Masters Series - Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (Shanachie)
• 2007 Mel Lewis and His Big Band (VIEW)^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mel Lewis (drummer)

• Mel Lewis at Drummerworld
• Mel Lewis at The Percussive Arts Society
• The Mel Lewis Collection at the Miller Nichols Library of the University of Missouri - Kansas City

Count Basie
from the 1955 film Rhythm and Blues Revue
Background information
Birth name	William James Basie
Born	(1904-08-21)August 21, 1904 Red Bank, New Jersey, United States
Died	April 26, 1984(1984-04-26) (aged 79) Hollywood, Florida, United States
Genres	Jazz, Swing, big band, piano blues
Occupations	Musician, bandleader, composer
Instruments	Piano, organ
Years active	1924–1984

William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984^[1]) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. His mother first taught him piano and he started performing in his teens. Dropping out of school, he learned to operate lights for vaudeville and improvised to accompany silent films at a local theater in his town of Red Bank, New Jersey. By 16, he increasingly played jazz piano at parties, resorts and other venues. In 1924, he went to Harlem, where his performing career expanded; he toured with groups to the major jazz cities of Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. In 1929 he joined Bennie Moten's band in Kansas City, and played with them for years, until Moten's death in 1935.

That year Basie formed his own jazz orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie's theme songs were "One O'Clock Jump," developed in 1935 in the early days of his band, and "April In Paris".

Biography[link]

Early life and education[link]

William Basie was born to Harvey Lee and Lillian Basie in Red Bank, New Jersey.^[2][3] His father worked as a coachman and caretaker for a wealthy judge. After automobiles replaced horses, his father became a groundskeeper and handyman for several wealthy families in the area.^[4] His mother, a piano player who gave Basie his first piano lessons, took in laundry and baked cakes for sale. She paid 25 cents a lesson for piano instruction for him.^[5][6]

Not much of a student in school, Basie dreamed of a traveling life, inspired by touring carnivals which came to town. He finished junior high school^[7] but spent much of his time at the Palace Theater in Red Bank, where doing occasional chores gained him free admission to performances. He learned to operate the spotlights for the vaudeville shows. One day, when the pianist failed to arrive by show time, Basie took his place. Playing by ear, he quickly learned to improvise music appropriate to the acts and the silent movies.^[8]

Though a natural at the piano, Basie preferred drums. Discouraged by the obvious talents of Sonny Greer, who also lived in Red Bank and became Duke Ellington's drummer in 1919, Basie at age 15 switched to piano exclusively.^[5] Greer and Basie played together in venues until Greer set out on his professional career. By then, Basie was playing with pick-up groups for dances, resorts, and amateur shows, including Harry Richardson's "Kings of Syncopation".^[9] When not playing a gig, he hung out at the local pool hall with other musicians, where he picked up on upcoming play dates and gossip. He got some jobs in Asbury Park at the Jersey Shore, and played at the Hong Kong Inn until a better player took his place.^[10]

Early career[link]

Around 1924, Basie went to Harlem, a hotbed of jazz, where he lived down the block from the Alhambra Theater. Early after his arrival, he bumped into Sonny Greer, who was by then the drummer for the Washingtonians, Duke Ellington's early band.^[11] Soon, Basie met many of the Harlem musicians who were "making the scene," including Willie "the Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson.

Basie toured in several acts between 1925 and 1927, including Katie Krippen and Her Kiddies as part of the Hippity Hop show; on the Keith, the Columbia Burlesque, and the Theater Owners Bookers Association (T.O.B.A.) vaudeville circuits; and as a soloist and accompanist to blues singers Katie Krippen and Gonzelle White.^[12][13] His touring took him to Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Chicago. Throughout his tours, Basie met many great jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong.^[14]

Back in Harlem in 1925, Basie got his first steady job at Leroy's, a place known for its piano players and its "cutting contests." The place catered to "uptown celebrities," and typically the band winged every number without sheet music (using "head arrangements").^[15] He met Fats Waller, who was playing organ at the Lincoln Theater accompanying silent movies, and Waller taught him how to play that instrument. (Basie later played organ at the Eblon Theater in Kansas City).^[1] As he did with Duke Ellington, Willie "the Lion" Smith helped Basie out during the lean times by arranging gigs at "house-rent parties," introducing him to other top musicians, and teaching him some piano technique.^[16]

In 1928 Basie was in Tulsa and heard Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils, one of the first big bands, which featured Jimmy Rushing on vocals.^[17] A few months later, he was invited to join the band, which played mostly in Texas and Oklahoma. It was at this time that he began to be known as "Count" Basie (see Jazz royalty).^[18]

Kansas City years[link]

The following year, in 1929 Basie became the pianist with the Bennie Moten band based in Kansas City, inspired by Moten's ambition to raise his band to the level of Duke Ellington's or Fletcher Henderson's.^[19] Where the Blue Devils were "snappier" and more "bluesy," the Moten band was classier and more respected, and played in the "Kansas City stomp" style.^[20] In addition to playing piano, Basie was co-arranger with Eddie Durham, who notated the music.^[21] During a stay in Chicago, Basie recorded with the band. He occasionally played four-hand piano and dual pianos with Moten, who also conducted.^[22] The band improved with several personnel changes, including the addition of tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.

When the band voted Moten out, Basie took over for several months, calling the group "Count Basie and his Cherry Blossoms." When his own band folded, he rejoined Moten with a newly re-organized band.^[23] When Moten died in 1935 after a surgical procedure, the band unsuccessfully tried to stay together but couldn't make a go of it.

Basie formed a new band that year, which included many Moten alumni, with the important addition of tenor player Lester Young. They played at the Reno Club and sometimes were broadcast on local radio. Late one night with time to fill, the band started improvising. Basie liked the results and named the piece "One O'Clock Jump."^[24] According to Basie, "we hit it with the rhythm section and went into the riffs, and the riffs just stuck. We set the thing up front in D-flat, and then we just went on playing in F." It became his signature tune.^[25]

John Hammond and first recordings[link]

Basie and band, with vocalist Ethel Waters, from the film Stage Door Canteen (1943)

At the end of 1936, Basie and his band, now billed as "Count Basie and His Barons of Rhythm," moved from Kansas City to Chicago, where they honed their repertoire at a long engagement at the Grand Terrace Ballroom.^[26] Right from the start, Basie's band was noted for its rhythm section. Another Basie innovation was the use of two tenor saxophone players; at the time, most bands had just one. When Young complained of Herschel Evans' vibrato, Basie placed them on either side of the alto players, and soon had the tenor players engaged in "duels". Many other bands later adapted the split tenor arrangement.^[27]

In that city in October 1936, the band had a recording session which the producer John Hammond later described as "the only perfect, completely perfect recording session I've ever had anything to do with".^[28] Hammond had heard Basie's band over short-wave radio and went to Kansas City to check them out.^[29] He invited them to record, in performances which were Lester Young's earliest recordings. Those four sides were released under the band name of Jones-Smith Incorporated; the sides were "Shoe Shine Boy", "Evening", "Boogie Woogie", and "Oh, Lady Be Good". Basie had already signed with Decca Records, but did not have his first recording session with them until January 1937.^[30]

By then, Basie's sound was characterized by a "jumping" beat and the contrapuntal accents of his own piano. His personnel around 1937 included: Lester Young and Herschel Evans (tenor sax), Freddie Green (guitar), Jo Jones (drums), Walter Page (bass), Earle Warren (alto sax), Buck Clayton and Harry Edison (trumpet), Benny Morton and Dickie Wells (trombone).^[31] Lester Young, known as "Prez" by the band, came up with nicknames for all the other band members. He called Basie "Holy Man", "Holy Main", and just plain "Holy".^[32]

Basie favored blues, and he would showcase some of the most notable blues singers of the era after he went to New York: Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, Helen Humes, and Joe Williams. He also hired arrangers who knew how to maximize the band's abilities, such as Eddie Durham and Jimmy Mundy.

New York City and the Swing years[link]

When Basie took his orchestra to New York in 1937, they made the Woodside Hotel in Queens their base (they often rehearsed in its basement). Soon, they were booked at the Roseland Ballroom for the Christmas show. Basie recalled a review, which said something like, "We caught the great Count Basie band which is supposed to be so hot he was going to come in here and set the Roseland on fire. Well, the Roseland is still standing".^[33] Compared to the reigning band of Fletcher Henderson, Basie's band lacked polish and presentation.^[34]

The producer John Hammond continued to advise and encourage the band, and they soon came up with some adjustments, including softer playing, more solos, and more standards. They paced themselves to save their hottest numbers for later in the show, to give the audience a chance to warm up.^[35] His first official recordings for Decca followed, under contract to agent MCA, including "Pennies from Heaven" and "Honeysuckle Rose".^[36]

Hammond introduced Basie to Billie Holiday, whom he invited to sing with the band. (Holiday didn't record with Basie, as she had her own record contract and preferred working with small combos).^[37] The band's first appearance at the Apollo Theater followed, with the vocalists Holiday and Jimmy Rushing getting the most attention.^[38] Durham returned to help with arranging and composing, but for the most part, the orchestra worked out its numbers in rehearsal, with Basie guiding the proceedings. There were often no musical notations made. Once the musicians found what they liked, they usually were able to repeat it using their "head arrangements" and collective memory.^[39]

Next, Basie played at the Savoy, which was noted more for jitterbugging, while the Roseland was a place for fox-trots and congas.^[40] In early 1938, the Savoy was the meeting ground for a "battle of the bands" with Chick Webb's group. Basie had Holiday, and Webb countered with the singer Ella Fitzgerald. As Metronome magazine proclaimed, "Basie's Brilliant Band Conquers Chick's"; the article described the evening:

"Throughout the fight, which never let down in its intensity during the whole fray, Chick took the aggressive, with the Count playing along easily and, on the whole, more musically scientifically. Undismayed by Chick's forceful drum beating, which sent the audience into shouts of encouragement and appreciation and casual beads of perspiration to drop from Chick's brow onto the brass cymbals, the Count maintained an attitude of poise and self-assurance. He constantly parried Chick's thundering haymakers with tantalizing runs and arpeggios which teased more and more force from his adversary".^[41]

The publicity over the big band battle, before and after, gave the Basie band a boost and wider recognition. Soon after, Benny Goodman recorded their signature "One O'Clock Jump" with his band.^[42]

A few months later, Holiday left for Artie Shaw's band. Hammond introduced Helen Humes, whom Basie hired; she stayed with Basie for four years.^[43] When Eddie Durham left for Glenn Miller's orchestra, he was replaced by Dicky Wells. Basie's 14-man band began playing at the Famous Door, a mid-town nightspot with a CBS network feed and air conditioning. Their fame took a huge leap.^[44] Adding to their play book, Basie received arrangements from Jimmy Mundy (who had also worked with Benny Goodman and Earl Hines), particularly for "Cherokee", "Easy Does It", and "Super Chief".^[45] In 1939, Basie and his band made a major cross-country tour, including their first West Coast dates. A few months later, Basie quit MCA and signed with the William Morris Agency, who got them better fees.^[46]

On the West Coast, in 1942 the band did a spot in Reveille With Beverly, a musical film starring Ann Miller, and a "Command Performance" for Armed Forces Radio, with Hollywood stars Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Carmen Miranda, Jerry Colonna, and the singer Dinah Shore.^[47] Other minor movie spots followed, including Choo Choo Swing, Crazy House, Top Man, and Hit Parade of 1943.^[48] They also started to record with RCA.^[49] The war years caused a lot of members turn over, and the band worked many play dates with lower pay. Dance hall bookings were down sharply as swing began to fade, the effects of the musicians' strikes of 1942-44 and 1948 began to be felt, and the public's taste grew for singers.

Marriage and family[link]

Basie had married Catherine Morgan in the late 1930s. In 1942, they moved to Queens.

Post-war and later years[link]

The big band era appeared to have ended after the war, and Basie disbanded the group. For a while, he performed in combos, sometimes stretched to an orchestra. In 1950, he headlined the Universal-International short film "Sugar Chile" Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet. He reformed his group as a 16-piece orchestra in 1952. Basie credits Billy Eckstine, a top male vocalist of the time, for prompting his return to Big Band. He said that Norman Granz got them into the Birdland club and promoted the new band through recordings on the Mercury, Clef, and Verve labels.^[50] The jukebox era had begun, and Basie shared the exposure along with early rock'n'roll and rhythm and blues artists. Basie's new band was more of an ensemble group, with fewer solo turns, and relying less on "head" and more on written arrangements.

Basie added touches of bebop "so long as it made sense", and he required that "it all had to have feeling". Basie's band was sharing Birdland with such bebop greats as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. Behind the occasional bebop solos, he always kept his strict rhythmic pulse, "so it doesn't matter what they do up front; the audience gets the beat".^[51] Basie also added flute to some numbers, a novelty at the time that became widely copied.^[52] Soon, his band was touring and recording again. The new band included: Paul Campbell, Tommy Turrentine, Johnny Letman, Idrees Sulieman, and Joe Newman (trumpet); Jimmy Wilkins, Benny Powell, Matthew Gee (trombone); Paul Quinichette and Floyd "Candy" Johnson (tenor sax); Marshall Royal and Ernie Wilkins (alto sax); and Charlie Fowlkes (baritone sax).^[53] Down Beat magazine reported, "(Basie) has managed to assemble an ensemble that can thrill both the listener who remembers 1938 and the youngster who has never before heard a big band like this."^[54]

In 1954, the band made its first European tour. Jazz was especially appreciated in France, The Netherlands, and Germany in the 1950s; these countries were the stomping grounds for many expatriate American jazz stars who were either resurrecting their careers or sitting out the years of racial divide in the United States. Neal Hefti began to provide arrangements, notably "Lil Darlin'". By the mid-1950s, Basie's band had become one of the preeminent backing big bands for some of the most prominent jazz vocalists of the time. They also toured with the "Birdland Stars of 1955", whose lineup included Sarah Vaughan, Erroll Garner, Lester Young, George Shearing, and Stan Getz.^[55]

In 1957, Basie released the live album Count Basie at Newport. "April in Paris" (arrangement by Wild Bill Davis) was a best-selling instrumental and the title song for the hit album.^[56] The Basie band made two tours in the British Isles and on the second, they put on a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, along with Judy Garland, Vera Lynn, and Mario Lanza.^[57] He was a guest on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, a venue also opened to several other black entertainers. In 1959, Basie's band recorded a "greatest hits" double album The Count Basie Story (Frank Foster, arranger) and "Basie and Eckstine, Inc.": album featuring Billy Eckstine, Quincy Jones (as arranger) and the Count Basie Orchestra. It was released by Roulette Records, then later reissued by Capital Records.

Later that year, Basie appeared on a television special with Fred Astaire, featuring a dance solo to "Sweet Georgia Brown", followed in January 1960 by Basie performing at one of the five John F. Kennedy Inaugural Balls.^[58] That summer, Basie and Duke Ellington combined forces for the recording First Time! The Count Meets the Duke, each providing four numbers from their play books.^[59]

Count Basie (left) in concert (Cologne 1975)

During the balance of the 1960s, the band kept busy with tours, recordings, television appearances, festivals, Las Vegas shows, and travel abroad, including cruises. Some time around 1964, Basie adopted his trademark yachting cap.^[60]

Through steady changes in personnel, Basie led the band into the 1970s. Basie made a few more movie appearances, such as the Jerry Lewis film Cinderfella (1960) and the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles (1974), playing his arrangement of "April in Paris".

Basie died of pancreatic cancer in Hollywood, Florida on April 26, 1984 at the age of 79.^[1]

Count Basie and his Orchestra[link]

The musicians associated with Count Basie over the years included the following:

• c.1937: Joe Keyes, Buck Clayton, Carl Smith, George Hunt, Dan Minor, Caughey Roberts, Herschel Evans, Lester Young, Jack Washington, Claude Williams, Walter Page, Jo Jones.
• c.1939: Ed Lewis, Buck Clayton, Shad Collins, Harry Edison, Earle Warren, Buddy Tate, Benny Morton, Dicky Wells, Freddie Green.
• 1940: Al Killian, Vic Dickenson.
• 1943: Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Eli Robinson, Robert Scott, Jimmy Powell, Rudy Rutherford, Rodney Richardson.

The singers[link]

Basie hitched his star to some of the most famous vocalists of the 1950s and 1960s, which helped keep the Big Band sound alive and added greatly to his recording catalog. Jimmy Rushing sang with Basie in the late 1930s. Joe Williams toured with the band and was featured on the 1957 album One O'Clock Jump, and 1956's Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings, with "Every Day (I Have the Blues)" becoming a huge hit. With Billy Eckstine on the album Basie-Eckstine Inc., in 1959. Ella Fitzgerald made some memorable recordings with Basie, including the 1963 album Ella and Basie!. With the 'New Testament' Basie band in full swing, and arrangements written by a youthful Quincy Jones, this album proved a swinging respite from her Songbook recordings and constant touring she did during this period. She even toured with the Basie Orchestra in the mid-1970s, and Fitzgerald and Basie also met on the 1979 albums A Classy Pair, Digital III at Montreux, and A Perfect Match, the last two also recorded live at Montreux. In addition to Quincy Jones, Basie was using arrangers such as Benny Carter (Kansas City Suite), Neal Hefti (The Atomic Mr Basie), and Sammy Nestico (Basie-Straight Ahead).

Frank Sinatra recorded for the first time with Basie on 1962's Sinatra-Basie and for a second studio album on 1964's It Might as Well Be Swing, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. Jones also arranged and conducted 1966's live Sinatra at the Sands. In May 1970, Sinatra performed in London's Royal Festival Hall with the Basie orchestra, in a charity benefit for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Sinatra later said of this concert "I have a funny feeling that those two nights could have been my finest hour, really. It went so well; it was so thrilling and exciting".^[61]

Basie also recorded with Tony Bennett in the early 1960s — their albums together included the live recording at Las Vegas and Strike Up the Band, a studio album. Basie also toured with Bennett, including a date at Carnegie Hall. Other notable recordings were with Sammy Davis, Jr., Bing Crosby, and Sarah Vaughan. One of Basie's biggest regrets was never recording with Louis Armstrong, though they shared the same bill several times.^[62]

Legacy and honors[link]

Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey

Count Basie introduced several generations of listeners to the Big Band sound and left an influential catalog. Basie is remembered by many who worked for him as being considerate of musicians and their opinions, modest, relaxed, fun-loving, dryly witty, and always enthusiastic about his music.^[63] In his autobiography, he wrote, "I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter."^[64]

• In Red Bank, New Jersey, the Count Basie Theatre, a property on Main Street redeveloped for live performances, and Count Basie Field were named in his honor.
• Mechanic Street, where he grew up with his family, has the honorary title of Count Basie Way.
• In 2009, Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, were renamed as Paul Robeson Boulevard and Count Basie Place. The corner is the location of 555 Edgecombe Avenue, also known as the Paul Robeson Home, a National Historic Landmark where Count Basie had also lived.

Representation in other media[link]

• Jerry Lewis used "Blues in Hoss' Flat" from Basie's Chairman of the Board album, as the basis for his own "Chairman of the Board" routine in the movie The Errand Boy.
• "Blues in Hoss' Flat," composed by Basie band member Frank Foster, was used by the radio DJ Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins as his theme song in San Francisco and New York.
• In Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Brenda Fricker's "Pigeon Lady" character claims to have heard Basie in Carnegie Hall.
• Drummer Neil Peart of the Canadian rock band Rush recorded a version of "One O'Clock Jump" with the Buddy Rich Big Band, and has used it at the end of his drum solos on the 2002 Vapor Trails Tour and Rush's 30th Anniversary Tour.

Discography[link]

The majority of Basie's recordings were made with his big band, see Count Basie Orchestra Discography.

From 1929-1932 Basie was part of Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra:

• Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra (1929-1932): Basie Beginnings (1929-1932, RCA/Bluebird Records)

Basie also made several small group recordings without his band:

• Count Basie Sextet (1954, Clef)
• Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 (1962, Impulse!)
• Basie Swingin' Voices Singin' (1966, EMI)
• Loose Walk (with Roy Eldridge) (1972, Pablo)
• Basie Jam (1973, Pablo)
• The Bosses (with Big Joe Turner) (1973)
• For the First Time (1974, Pablo)
• Satch and Josh (with Oscar Peterson)
• Basie & Zoot (with Zoot Sims) (1975, Pablo)
• For the Second Time (1975, Pablo)
• Basie Jam 2 (1976, Pablo)
• Basie Jam 3 (1976, Pablo)
• Kansas City 5 (1977, Pablo)
• The Gifted Ones (with Dizzy Gillespie) (1977, Pablo)
• Basie Jam: Montreux '77 (live) (1977, Pablo)
• Satch and Josh...Again (with Oscar Peterson) (1977, Pablo)
• Night Rider (with Oscar Peterson) (1978, Pablo)
• Count Basie Meets Oscar Peterson – The Timekeepers (with Oscar Peterson) (1978, Pablo)
• Yessir, That's My Baby (with Oscar Peterson) (1978, Pablo)
• Kansas City 8: Get Together (1979, Pablo)
• Kansas City 7 (1980, Pablo)
• Kansas City 6 (1981, Pablo)
• Mostly Blues...and Some Others (1983, Pablo)

Filmography[link]

• Hit Parade of 1943 (1943) – as himself
• Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet (1950) – as himself
• Cinderfella (1960) – as himself
• Blazing Saddles (1974) – as himself with his orchestra

Awards[link]

Grammy Awards[link]

Grammy Hall of Fame[link]

By 2011, four recordings of Count Basie had been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."