Undergoing expansion and personnel changes, it returned to Chicago, then to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Boston. It made its recording debut on Decca Records in January 1937. 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. 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.īasie 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. 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).
Upon Moten’s untimely death on April 2, 1935, Basie worked as a soloist before leading a band initially called the Barons of Rhythm. Basie left in early 1929 to play with other bands, eventually settling into one led by Bennie Moten.
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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.
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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. Basie also learned from Harlem stride pianists, particularly Fats Waller. His instrument was his band, which was considered the epitome of swing and became broadly influential on jazz.īoth 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 was not a composer like Duke Ellington or an important soloist like Benny Goodman. Basie’s orchestra was characterized by a light, swinging rhythm section that he led from the piano, lively ensemble work, and generous soloing. 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. Categories Count Basie: The Top 25 pearls in Jazz history Cunt Basie BiographyĬount Basie was among the most important bandleaders of the swing era.
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