William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 РApril 26, 1984) was a jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader. August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ... A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ... The Casavant pipe organ at Notre-Dame de Montr̩al Basilica, Montreal The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the western musical tradition, with a rich history connected with the Christian religion and civic ceremony. ... A bandleader is the director of a band of musicians. ...

Birth

Basie was born in Red Bank, New Jersey to Harvey Lee Basie, and Lillian Ann Childs. His father worked as coachman for a wealthy family. After automobiles replaced horses, his father became a groundskeeper and handyman for several area families. His mother "took in laundry". Basie learned how to play piano as a child. William had a brother: LeRoy Basie. The Borough of Red Bank is a town located in Monmouth County, New Jersey incorporated in 1908. ...

Vaudeville

Basie toured the T.O.B.A. vaudeville circuit starting in 1924 as a soloist and accompanist to blues singers. His touring took him to Kansas City, Missouri where he met many jazz musicians in the area. In 1928 he joined Walter Page's Blue Devils, and the following year became the pianist with the Bennie Moten band based in Kansas City. After Moten died in 1935, Basie became leader and started referring to himself as "Count Basie". Theater Owners Booking Association or T.O.B.A. was the vaudeville circuit for African American performers in the 1920s and 1930s. ... Vaudeville was a style of multi-act theater which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale as well as a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ... Kansas City is a city covering parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties in Missouri, USA. Although it is the largest city in Jackson County, the suburb of Independence is the county seat. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Bennie Moten (1894-1935) was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

New York City

At the end of 1936 he moved his band to New York City where the Count Basie Orchestra remained until 1950. The big band era appeared to be at an end, but Basie reformed his as a 16-piece orchestra in 1952 and led it until his death. Basie remained faithful to the Kansas City jazz style and helped keep jazz alive with his distinctive piano playing. Basie’s music was characterized by his trademark "jumping" beat and the contrapuntal accents of his own piano. Basie also showcased some of the best blues singers of the era: Billie Holliday, Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, and Joe Williams. More importantly, Count Basie was a highly successful band-leader who was able to hold onto some of the greatest jazz musicians of the 1930s and early 1940s: Buck Clayton, Herschel Evans, Lester Young, and the band's brilliant rhythm section, Walter Page, Freddie Green, and Jo Jones. He was also able to hire great arrangers that knew how to use the band's abilities, like Eddie Durham and Jimmy Mundy. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The city is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture, and is one of the worlds major global cities (along with London, Tokyo and Paris) with a virtually unrivaled collection of museums, galleries, performance venues, media outlets, international corporations, and stock exchanges. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... A big band, also known as a jazz orchestra, is a large musical ensemble that plays swing music. ... Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Orchestra at City Hall (Edmonton). ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale as well as a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ... Billie Holiday photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949 Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 - July 17, 1959), also called Lady Day is generally considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. ... James Andrew (Jimmy) Rushing (August 26, 1901/02/03 - June 8, 1972) was an American blues singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ... Big Joe Turner ( May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues singer from Kansas City, Missouri. ... Joe Williams (December 12, 1918 - March 29, 1999) was a well-known jazz singer. ... Buck Clayton (born Wilbur Dorsey Clayton in Parsons, Kansas on November 12, 1911-died in New York City on December 8, 1991) was a American jazz trumpet player, fondly remembered for being a leading member of Count Basie’s Old Testmant orchestra and leader of mainstream orientated jam session recordings... Lester Willis Young, nicknamed Prez (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. ...

Death

Count Basie died of pancreatic cancer in Hollywood, Florida on April 26, 1984 at age 79. Pancreatic cancer (also called cancer of the pancreas) is represented by the growth of a malignant tumour within the small pancreas organ. ... Hollywood is a city located in Broward County, Florida. ... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Legacy

One O'Clock Jump and Jumpin' at the Woodside were among Count Basie's more popular numbers. Basie was also known for his band's version's of April In Paris and Lil' Darlin.

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 Errand Boy, in which Lewis pantomimed the movements of a corporate executive holding a board meeting. Blues in Hoss' Flat, composed by Basie band member Frank Foster, was also the longtime theme song of San Francisco and New York radio DJ Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins. Jerry Lewis Joseph Levitch (born March 16, 1926), better known as Jerry Lewis, is a Jewish American comedian, actor, producer, and director, known for his slapstick humor and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. ...

Basie and his band made a cameo appearance in Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy film Blazing Saddles. Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is a Jewish-American actor, writer director, and theatrical producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and parodies. ... See also: 1973 in film 1974 1975 in film 1970s in film years in film film // Events February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in USA May 1 - George Lucas creates the first draft of what would eventually become Star Wars. ... Blazing Saddles is a Warner Bros. ...

Basie is one of the producers of the "world's greatest music" that Brenda Fricker's "Pigeon Lady" character claims to have heard in Carnegie Hall in 1992's Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Brenda Fricker (born February 17, 1945 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish actress. ... Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Manhattan, New York City. ... This is a list of film-related events in 1992. ... Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) is the sequel to the film Home Alone. ...

See also

Jazz royalty Jazz royalty is a term that reflects the many great jazz musicians who have some sort of royal title in their names or nicknames. ...

Samples

• Download sample of "Jumpin' at the Woodside" by Count Basie & His Orchestra, a popular swing song by a jazz legend

William Count Basie (August 21, 1904 - April 26, 1984) was a jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader. ... Musically, swing can be either: (written with small s), refers to swung notes, the rhythmic feeling evoked by swinging music, esp. ...

External links

• Count Basie at the Duke Jazz Archives
• Count Basie at PageWise