Count Basie Orchestra Biography

In a genre dominated by effusive virtuosity, Count Basie carved out a distinctive niche for himself as a jazz minimalist, and over the course of 50 years his name became synonymous with wit, concision and swing in both big band and small group settings. Basie's sly, laid-back piano stylings produced the greatest possible rhythmic impact with only the barest outline of notes, and within the space of four bars he could set everything to cruise control with his magical tempos and tinkling pianistic flourishes. Basie's experiences in Southwestern territorial bands culminated in his leadership over what became the most swinging, influential big band of the 1930s. Basie helped usher in the modern jazz era by streamlining the music's rhythmic conventions, combining the traditional 1-3 emphasis of the Bennie Moten Orchestra with the more fluid 2-4 emphasis of Walter Page's Blue Devils (the two great bands in which he served his apprenticeship). With Basie at the helm, his All-American Rhythm Section (comprised of bassist Walter Page, drummer Jo Jones and guitarist Freddie Green) created a smooth, even groove of quarter notes that became the rosetta stone of tune and tempo for succeeding generations.

Born in Red Bank, New Jersey on August 21, 1904, William Basie began his instrumental career as a stride pianist and organist inspired in turn by the likes of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, fathers of stride piano. He began his professional career playing organ and piano for silent movies and soon moved on to the black vaudevillian circuit, which is how he ended up stranded on the road in Kansas City in the late '20s. It was here that he became the pianist with Walter Page's Blue Devils and the Bennie Moten Orchestra, and with Moten's death Basie assembled the best musicians from both bands into a loose juggernaut of swing, broadcasting nightly from the Reno Club, which is how the legendary New York producer John Hammond got wind of them. In short order they were performing at New York's Famous Door and recording jazz standards such as "One O'Clock Jump" and "Jumpin' At The Woodside" for Decca, while wowing the dancers at Roseland in midtown and uptown at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, where their house-rocking grooves, epic soloists (such as Lester Young and Buck Clayton) and great singers ( Jimmy Rushing, Billie Holiday and Helen Humes) more than made up for the lack of ensemble precision.

Basie worked as sideman on recordings by guitarist Charlie Christian and clarinetist Benny Goodman (who regarded the Basie rhythm section as the greatest in all of jazz), and managed to keep his "Old Testament" big band going throughout World War II, but by 1949 economic pressures forced him to front a smaller combo. But in 1952 Basie organized a "New Testament" big band, whose tight arrangements and steely ensemble work stood in sharp contrast to the work of his earlier band. With rhythm mate Freddie Green as a holdover from the Old Testament band, new arrangers and soloists such as Neal Hefti, Ernie Wilkins, Frank Wess, Thad Jones and Frank Foster refashioned Basie's sound into something sleek, precise and relentlessly swinging (thanks in part to the elemental drumming of Sonny Payne), and with hits such as "April In Paris" and hip vocal features for blues giant Joe Williams, the Basie band established a signature sound that endured over the next three decades in a provocative series of big band and small group recordings, until Basie's death in 1984.