Count Basie - Music Biography, Credits and Discography - AllMusic

Count Basie - Music Biography, Credits and Discography : AllMusic
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Count Basie
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by William Ruhlmann
biography [-]
Count Basie was among the most important bandleaders of the swing era. With the exception of a brief period in the early '50s, he led a big band from 1935 until his death almost 50 years later, and the band continued to perform after he died. Basie's orchestra was characterized by a light, swinging rhythm section that he led from the piano, lively ensemble work, and generous soloing. Basie was not a composer like Duke Ellington or an important soloist like Benny Goodman. His instrument was his band, which was considered the epitome of swing and became broadly influential on jazz. Both of Basie's parents were musicians; his father, Harvie Basie, played the mellophone, and his mother, Lillian (Childs) Basie, was a pianist who gave her son his earliest lessons. Basie also learned from Harlem stride pianists, particularly Fats Waller. His first professional work came accompanying vaudeville performers, and he was part of a troupe that broke up in Kansas City in 1927, leaving him stranded there. He stayed in the Midwestern city, at first working in a silent movie house and then joining Walter Page's Blue Devils in July 1928. The band's vocalist was Jimmy Rushing. Basie left in early 1929 to play with other bands, eventually settling into one led by Bennie Moten. Upon Moten's untimely death on April 2, 1935, Basie worked as a soloist before leading a band initially called the Barons of Rhythm. Many former members of the Moten band joined this nine-piece outfit, among them Walter Page (bass), Freddie Green (guitar), Jo Jones (drums), and Lester Young (tenor saxophone). Jimmy Rushing became the singer. The band gained a residency at the Reno Club in Kansas City and began broadcasting on the radio, an announcer dubbing the pianist "Count" Basie. Basie got his big break when one of his broadcasts was heard by journalist and record producer John Hammond, who touted him to agents and record companies. As a result, the band was able to leave Kansas City in the fall of 1936 and take up an engagement at the Grand Terrace in Chicago, followed by a date in Buffalo, NY, before coming into Roseland in New York City in December. It made its recording debut on Decca Records in January 1937. Undergoing expansion and personnel changes, it returned to Chicago, then to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Boston. Meanwhile, its recording of "One O'Clock Jump" became its first chart entry in September 1937. The tune became the band's theme song and it was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Basie returned to New York for an extended engagement at the small club the Famous Door in 1938 that really established the band as a success. "Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush," with Rushing on vocals, became a Top Ten hit in the fall of 1938. Basie spent the first half of 1939 in Chicago, meanwhile switching from Decca to Columbia Records, then went to the West Coast in the fall. He spent the early '40s touring extensively, but after the U.S. entry into World War II in December 1941 and the onset of the recording ban in August 1942, his travel was restricted. While on the West Coast, he and the band appeared in five films, all released within a matter of months in 1943: Hit Parade of 1943, Reveille with Beverly, Stage Door Canteen, Top Man, and Crazy House. He also scored a series of Top Ten hits on the pop and R&B charts, including "I Didn't Know About You" (pop, winter 1945); "Red Bank Blues" (R&B, winter 1945); "Rusty Dusty Blues" (R&B, spring 1945); "Jimmy's Blues" (pop and R&B, summer/fall 1945); and "Blue Skies" (pop, summer 1946). Switching to RCA Victor Records, he topped the charts in February 1947 with "Open the Door, Richard!," followed by three more Top Ten pop hits in 1947: "Free Eats," "One O'Clock Boogie," and "I Ain't Mad at You (You Ain't Mad at Me)."
GENRES STYLES
Jazz Big Band Swing Piano Blues Band Music
ACTIVE BORN
1920s - 1980s August 21, 1904 in Red Bank, NJ April 26, 1984 in Hollywood, FL William "Count" Basie William Allen Basie William Basie
DIED
ALIASES
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photo gallery
The big bands' decline in popularity in the late '40s hit Basie as it did his peers, and he broke up his orchestra at the end of the decade, opting to lead smaller units for the next couple of years. But he was able to reform the big band in 1952, responding to increased opportunities for touring. For example, he went overseas for the first time to play in Scandinavia in 1954, and thereafter international touring played a large part in his schedule. An important addition to the band in late 1954 was vocalist Joe Williams. The orchestra was re-
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established commercially by the 1955 album Count Basie Swings - Joe Williams Sings (released on Clef Records), particularly by the single "Every Day (I Have the Blues)," which reached the Top Five of the R&B charts and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Another key recording of this period was an instrumental reading of "April in Paris" that made the pop Top 40 and the R&B Top Ten in early 1956; it also was enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame. These hits made what Albert Murray (co-author of Basie's autobiography, Good Morning Blues) called the "new testament" edition of the Basie band a major success. Williams remained with Basie until 1960, and even after his departure, the band continued to prosper.
artist moods
- Bright Elegant Happy Sophisticated Amiable/GoodNatured Freewheeling Light Swaggering Exuberant Rousing Rollicking Passionate - Carefree Energetic Lively Stylish Celebratory Cheerful Joyous Refined Boisterous Fun Playful Confident Sentimental
At the first Grammy Awards ceremony, Basie won the 1958 awards for Best Performance by a Dance Band and Best Jazz Performance, Group, for his Roulette Records LP Basie. Breakfast Dance and Barbecue was nominated in the dance band category for 1959, and Basie won in the category in 1960 for Dance with Basie, earning nominations the same year for Best Performance by an Orchestra and Best Jazz Performance, Large Group, for The Count Basie Story. There were further nominations for best jazz performance for Basie at Birdland in 1961 and The Legend in 1962. None of these albums attracted much commercial attention, however, and in 1962, Basie switched to Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records in a bid to sell more records. Sinatra-Basie satisfied that desire, reaching the Top Five in early 1963. It was followed by This Time by Basie! Hits of the 50's and 60's, which reached the Top 20 and won the 1963 Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra for Dancing. This initiated a period largely deplored by jazz fans that ran through the rest of the 1960s, when Basie teamed with various vocalists for a series of chart albums including Ella Fitzgerald (Ella and Basie!, 1963); Sinatra again (the Top 20 album It Might as Well Be Swing, 1964); Sammy Davis, Jr. (Our Shining Hour, 1965); the Mills Brothers (The Board of Directors, 1968); and Jackie Wilson (Manufacturers of Soul, 1968). He also reached the charts with an album of show tunes, Broadway Basie's ... Way (1966). By the end of the 1960s, Basie had returned to more of a jazz format. His album Standing Ovation earned a 1969 Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Large Group or Soloist with Large Group (Eight or More), and in 1970, with Oliver Nelson as arranger/conductor, he recorded Afrique, an experimental, avantgarde album that earned a 1971 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band. By this time, the band performed largely on the jazz festival circuit and on cruise ships. In the early 1970s, after a series of short-term affiliations, Basie signed to Pablo Records, with which he recorded for the rest of his life. Pablo recorded Basie prolifically in a variety of settings, resulting in a series of well-received albums: Basie Jam earned a 1975 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance by a Group; Basie and Zoot was nominated in the same category in 1976 and won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist; Prime Time won the 1977 Grammy for Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band; and The Gifted Ones by Basie and Dizzy Gillespie was nominated for a 1979 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Group. Thereafter, Basie competed in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Big Band, winning the Grammy in 1980 for On the Road and in 1982 for Warm Breeze, earning a nomination for Farmer's Market Barbecue in 1983, and winning a final time, for his ninth career Grammy, in 1984 for 88 Basie Street.
artist themes
- Freedom - In Love - Celebration - Dinner Ambiance - Homecoming - Night Driving Reflection Solitude Sweet Dreams Vacation - Reunion - Affirmation - Day Driving - Family Gatherings - Housework - Rainy Day - Road Trip - Sunday Afternoon - TGIF Affection/Fondness - Playful - Reminiscing
- Anniversary - Relaxation - The Creative Side
Basie's health gradually deteriorated during the last eight years of his life. He suffered a heart attack in 1976 that put him out of commission for several months. He was back in the hospital in 1981, and when he returned to action, he was driving an electric wheel chair onto the stage. He died of cancer at 79. Count Basie was admired as much by musicians as by listeners, and he displayed a remarkable consistency in a bandleading career that lasted long after swing became an archival style of music. After his death, his was one of the livelier ghost bands, led in turn by Thad Jones, Frank Foster, and Grover Mitchell. His lengthy career resulted in a large discography spread across all of the major labels and quite a few minor ones as well.
COLLAPSE
discography
Year
list
Title
condensed
Label
MAIN ALBUMS
COMPILATIONS
SINGLES & EPS
DVDS & VIDEOS
Editors' Rating
Average User Rating
1950
Dance Parade
Columbia
No User Ratings
1950
Count Basie at the Piano Count Basie/Lester Young - Live at Birdland
Decca
No User Ratings
1952
No User Ratings
1952
Count Basie and His Orchestra Collates
Mercury
No User Ratings
1953
King of Swing
Verve
(1)
1954
Basie Jazz
Clef Records
No User Ratings
1954
Basie [Clef]
No User Ratings
1954
Blues Backstage
Clef Records
No User Ratings
1954
Count Basie Big Band
Clef Records
No User Ratings
1954
Count Basie Dance Session, Vol. 1
Universal Distribution
No User Ratings
1954
Dance Session
No User Ratings
1954
The Count Basie Sextet
Clef Records
No User Ratings
1955
Jazz Royalty
Emarcy
No User Ratings
1955
The Old Count and the New Count
Epic
No User Ratings
1955
Lester Leaps In
Epic
No User Ratings
1955
Basie's Back in Town
Epic
No User Ratings
1955
Let's Go to Prez
Epic
No User Ratings
1955
Count Basie Dance Session, Vol. 2
No User Ratings
1955
Rock the Blues
Epic
No User Ratings
1956
Sings Standards
Verve
No User Ratings
1956
Count Basie in London
Verve
(1)
1956
Live in Basel (1956)
Jazz Helvet
No User Ratings
1956
April in Paris
Phoenix Jazz / Phoenix Records
(11)
1956
Basie Bash
Columbia
No User Ratings
1956
Basie Rides Again
Clef Records
No User Ratings
1956
Basie Roars Again!
Clef Records
No User Ratings
1956
Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings
Verve / PolyGram / Universal
(6)
1956
Switzerland 1956
Jazz Helvet
No User Ratings
1956
The Band Of Distinction
Clef Records
No User Ratings
1956
The Swinging Count
No User Ratings
1957
At Newport with Dizzy Gillespie
Verve
No User Ratings
1957
Count Basie at Newport
Verve
(5)
1957
One O'Clock Jump
Verve / PolyGram / Universal Classics & Jazz
No User Ratings
1957
The Atomic Mr. Basie
Jazz Track
(8)
1958
Memories Ad-Lib
No User Ratings
1958
Basie Swings, Bennett Sings
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1958
Basie Plays Hefti
No User Ratings
1958
Sing Along with Basie
Roulette Records
(1)
1958
The Atomic Band in Concert
Band Stand - (import)
No User Ratings
1959
Chairman of the Board
Roulette Records
(4)
1959
Breakfast Dance and Barbecue Everyday I Have the Blues
Blue Note
No User Ratings
1959
No User Ratings
1959
Hall of Fame
Fresh Sound Records
No User Ratings
1959
Dance with Basie
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1959
Basie and Eckstine, Inc.
Roulette Records / Capitol
No User Ratings
1959
Bennett & Basie Strike Up the Band
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1959
Live
Sequel
No User Ratings
1959
One More Time
Roulette Records
(1)
1960
Not Now - I'll Tell You When
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1960
Just the Blues
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1960
Easin' It
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1960
Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie at Newport
Verve
No User Ratings
1960
String Along with Basie
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1960
The Best of Basie, Vol. 1 The Best of Basie, Vol. 2 First Time! The Count Meets the Duke
Charly Budget / Charly Records
No User Ratings
1960
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1961
Columbia
(12)
1961
Basie at Birdland
Roulette Records / Blue Note

(1)
1962
Count Basie and the Kansas City 7
Impulse! / Universal Japan

(9)
1962
Back with Basie
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1962
Basie: Vaughan
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1962
Count Basie & Sarah Vaughan
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1962
Count Basie in Sweden
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1962
Live in Concert
Monad
No User Ratings
1962
Live in Sweden
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1962
Paris Jazz Concert
RTE
No User Ratings
1962
Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First
Reprise
(7)
1963
On My Way & Shoutin' Again
Verve
(3)
1963
Basie Land Li L Ol Groovemaker...Basie!
Verve
(1)
1963
Verve
(1)
1964
Pop Goes the Basie
No User Ratings
1964
It Might as Well Be Swing The World of Count Basie
Reprise
(6)
1964
Roulette Records
No User Ratings
1965
Basie Picks the Winners
No User Ratings
1965
Frankly Basie: Count Basie Plays the Hits of Frank Sinatra Count Basie with Arthur Prysock
Verve
No User Ratings
1966
Verve
No User Ratings
1966
Inside Basie Outside
No User Ratings
1966
Great Concert of Count Basie and His Orchestra
Festival Records
No User Ratings
1966
Basie's Beatle Bag
Verve / PolyGram / Universal

No User Ratings
1966
Basie Meets Bond
Roulette Records
(1)
1966
Basie's Swingin', Voices Singin'
No User Ratings
1967
The Board of Directors
DOT Records
No User Ratings
1967
Straight Ahead
GRP / Verve
No User Ratings
1967
Basie's Beat
No User Ratings
1967
Hollywood...Basie's Way
Command
No User Ratings
1967
Showtime
MCA
No User Ratings
1968
Live in Antibes (1968)
France's Concert
No User Ratings
1968
Basie's in the Bag
Brunswick
No User Ratings
1969
Jazz Fest Masters: Count Basie
Scotti Brothers
No User Ratings
1969
Basic Basie
Verve
No User Ratings
1969
Standing Ovation
DOT Records
No User Ratings
1970
Basie on the Beatles
Ocium Records (Spain)
No User Ratings
1970
High Voltage
Polygram
No User Ratings
1971
Afrique
BMG International
(1)
1971
Have a Nice Day
No User Ratings
1972
Pleyel: 17 Avril 1972, Pt. 1
Trema
No User Ratings
1973
Basie Jam
Pablo
(2)
1973
The Bosses
Original Jazz Classics

(2)
1974
Satch and Josh
JVC XRCD / JVC/XRCD

(4)
1975
Basie & Zoot Fun Time: Count Basie Big Band at Montreux '75 For the Second Time

(1)
1975
Pablo
No User Ratings
1975

(1)
1975
Count Basie Jam Session at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975
Pablo
No User Ratings
1975
The Basie Big Band
JVC XRCD / JVC/XRCD
No User Ratings
1977
Kansas City 5

(2)
1977
The Gifted Ones

(3)
1977
Montreux '77
No User Ratings
1977
Satch and Josh.....Again
Pablo
No User Ratings
1977
Basie in Europe Milt Jackson & Count Basie & the Big Band, Vol. 1 Yessir, That's My Baby
LRC Records
No User Ratings
1978
Pablo
(1)
1978
Pablo
No User Ratings
1978
Live in Japan '78
Pablo Records / Pablo
No User Ratings
1978
Big Bands, An Old Manuscript
BH Records
No User Ratings
1978
On Tour Down for Double
BH Records
No User Ratings
1978
Count Basie Meets Oscar Peterson
Pablo
No User Ratings
1978
Night Rider

(1)
1978
The Timekeepers Milt Jackson & Count Basie & the Big Band,
Pablo
(1)
1979
Pablo
Vol. 2
Original Jazz Classics / Pablo/OJC
(1)
1979
On the Road
No User Ratings
1979
Get Together
Pablo Records / Pablo
No User Ratings
1980
Kansas City Shout
Pablo
(2)
1980
Kansas City 7
Original Jazz Classics / Pablo

(1)
1982
Farmer's Market Barbecue Mostly Blues...And Some Others
No User Ratings
1983
Pablo
No User Ratings
1994
Big Band Basie
Reference Recordings
No User Ratings
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Jazz Big Band Swing Piano Blues Band Music

+ Artist Metadata IDs Submit corrections