Count Basie

Count Basie: Swing Era Jazz Musician

By Trent Corbin

Count Basie, who was born on August 21, 1904, in Red Band, New Jersey, began his music career by playing piano with his mother. Moving to New York in his teens, Basie met Paul Johnson, Fats Waller, and other pianists of the Harlem pride. Before the age of 20, he had already toured on the Keith and TOBA Vaudeville Circuits, establishing himself as a player in the jazz game. Basie joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in July of 1928, but only stayed for a year before joining Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra. Count Basie formed a new group after Banie Moten's death in 1935. This new group of Basie's was to include several musicians which included "Papa" Joe Jones and Lester Young. The turning point in Basie's career came in 1936 when his group was asked to play on the radio. After that, he received record contracts and deals, one of which was with the Decca Record Company, who also held contracts with several great artists of the time. At this point they became known as Count Basie's Orchestra and also one of the leading bands of the "swing era." Basie developed an "elliptical' style of melodic leads and cues which allowed him to control the band from his keyboard while also blending in with his rhythm section. Much of the success of the rhythm section was due to both "Papa" Joe Jones, one of Basie's contemporaries and pioneer of the constant high-hat cymbal style, as well as the fact they practiced independently of the band on many occasions to exact the buoyant swing heard in the music. Four-beat jazz was established by this group. And the final element that helped to make them number one in swing was the soloists such as Harry Edison, Dicky Wells, and Benny Morton. Some of their greatest songs include "One O'Clock Jump" and "Taxi War Dance." Despite the talent present throughout the band, they had to split up due to financial reasons in 1950. Basie then led a smaller band until 1952 when he got back into the big band business. This band was to become a Jazz Institution and and a much sought-after education for up-and-coming musicians. Basie would issue several recordings and tour both Europe and Japan before he was forced into a wheelchair in the 1970s. Nonetheless, he continued to put on a few more concerts. On April 26, 1984, Count Basie died in Hollywood California, but will always be remembered as one of the best in swing and one of the precursors to the following Bop Era.

Click on the following links to learn more about Count Basie and the era in which he lived.