Who influenced Count Basie

Basie studied music with his mother and was later influenced by the Harlem pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, receiving informal tutelage on the organ from the latter. He began his professional career as an accompanist on the vaudeville circuit.

Who was Count Basie's most influential saxophonist?

Frank Wess, who helped anchor the saxophone section of the Count Basie Orchestra in the 1950s and ’60s and who pioneered the use of the flute in jazz during a career that spanned more than 70 years, died Oct. 30 in New York. He was 91.

What stride pianist was Count Basie first inspired by?

In 1924, Basie moved to New York City. There, he met and was influenced by noted stride pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller.

How did Count Basie influence?

He was the arbiter of the big-band swing sound and his unique style of fusing blues and jazz established swing as a predominant music style. Basie changed the jazz landscape and shaped mid-20th century popular music, duly earning the title “King of Swing” because he made the world want to dance.

Who was responsible for helping Basie setup the rhythm section of his band?

Freddie Green, the guitarist with the Count Basie band for many years, created a style of playing chords that used 2 or 3 notes per chord.

Who did Billie Holiday call Prez?

At one point Lester moved into the apartment Billie shared with her mother, Sadie Fagan. Holiday always insisted their relationship was strictly platonic. She gave Lester the nickname “Prez” after President Franklin Roosevelt, the “greatest man around” in Billie’s mind.

Who led the Count Basie Orchestra?

The Count Basie Orchestra, today directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for Kings, Queens, and other world Royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world.

What pianist lead the most successful band in Kansas City?

Bennie MotenGenresJazz, Kansas City jazz, Moten SwingOccupation(s)Musician, bandleaderInstrumentsPianoLabelsVictor, OKeh, Bluebird, HMV, RCA

How did Count Basie became famous?

A pianist, Count Basie played vaudeville before eventually forming his own big band and helping to define the era of swing with hits like “One O’Clock Jump” and “Blue Skies.” In 1958, Basie became the first African American male recipient of a Grammy Award.

Where was Count Basie when John Hammond first heard him on the radio?

Hammond first heard Basie’s band on the radio and went to Kansas City to check them out. He invited them to record, in performances which were Lester Young’s earliest recordings.

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Why did they call Count Basie Splank?

Most swing musicians know what the “Count Basie ending” is: three rhythmically-spaced chords followed by a low, emphatic “exclamation point.” The word “Splank” for Basie was coined by Sinatra — a good onomatopoeic description of the lick.

Who taught Count Basie how do you play the piano?

But it was in Harlem, New York City, that he learned the basics of piano, mainly from his sometime organ teacher, the great Fats Waller (1904–1943). Basie made his professional debut playing piano with vaudeville acts (traveling variety entertainment). While on one tour he became stranded in Kansas City, Missouri.

Which blues singer and pianist from Oklahoma City Oklahoma was a mainstay with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1935 1948?

James Andrew Rushing was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie’s Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.

What is one of the names of a dance bands lead by Count Basie?

The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936.

Who was the star saxophonist in the Basie band?

Frank Foster, a Grammy Award-winning musical arranger and jazz saxophonist who wrote one of the Count Basie Orchestra’s classic tunes of the 1950s and later became the band’s leader, died July 26 at his home in Chesapeake, Va.

When was Count Basie popular?

But it sure sounds good.” The Basie orchestra had several hit recordings during the late 1930s and early ’40s, among them “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” “Every Tub,” “Lester Leaps In,” “Super Chief,” “Taxi War Dance,” “Miss Thing,” “Shorty George,” and “One O’Clock Jump,” the band’s biggest hit and theme song.

Who was Basie's most famous tenor sax soloist?

Hi-Hat” Jones (drums). Also known as “Prez,” he was a famous tenor saxophonist soloist during the 1930s and 40s, who was featured in Count Basie’s band. He became one of the five most influential saxophonists in jazz history.

What did Count Basie call Billie Holiday?

Young gave Holiday the nickname “Lady Day” in 1937 — the same year she joined Basie’s band. In return, she called him “Prez,” which was her way of saying that she thought it was the greatest. Holiday toured with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937.

What was Coleman Hawkins nickname?

Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed “Hawk” and sometimes “Bean”, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

What was Lester Young's nickname?

In the 1930s, Lester Young — known as the “President of Jazz” or simply “The Prez” — led a revolution on the tenor saxophone that influenced generations to follow. He was Billie Holiday’s favorite accompanist, and his robust tenor playing influenced everybody from Charlie Parker to Sonny Rollins.

Who was responsible for the signature tenor sax sound of the swing era?

With his unique, raspy tone combined with his command of harmonically detailed improvisation, Coleman Hawkins became the preeminent tenor saxophonist during the swing era. He developed his style while a member of Fletcher Henderson’s big band.

Who is Tony Bennett's drummer?

Harold Jones is a marvel. While some people his age are already living in retirement homes, the seventy-five-year-old drummer is busy globe-hopping with another over-achieving American musical icon, Tony Bennett.

What was the Count Basie Orchestra's theme song?

The band’s theme song was “One O’Clock Jump,” which Basie played in thousands of performances over most of his career. By the time Count Basie and his band went into the recording studio on July 7th, 1937, they’d already made a handful of records, but “One O’Clock Jump” was the tune that caught on with the public.

What happened to Count Basie's daughter Diane?

Basie gave up her career to care for their daughter, who was mentally retarded, and their two adopted sons. She died in 1983.

Who was the jazz promoter responsible for booking Benny Goodman's career and helped get Count Basie a recording contract with Decca Records?

In 1936, John Hammond, who had recently helped start Benny Goodman’s career, heard Count Basie’s band on a late-night short-wave radio show in Chicago. 1.

How old is Basie?

Count Basie, the jazz pianist whose spare, economic keyboard style and supple rhythmic drive made his orchestra one of the most influential groups of the Big Band era, died of cancer yesterday morning at Doctors’ Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. He was 79 years old and lived in Freeport, the Bahamas.

How did the bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington differ?

How did the bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington differ? The Basie band was looser and had a more relaxed swing feeling. … Ellington was a composer who played piano, but he really used the band as his expressive instrument.

What was Billy Strayhorn's last composition?

Strayhorn renamed and finished writing this piece, originally titled “Blue Cloud,” while under treatment for esophageal cancer in 1967; tragically, it became the last composition he ever wrote.

How many siblings did Count Basie have?

William Basie was born at 229 Mechanic Street on August 21, 1904. His father, Harvey Lee Basie, was a coachman and caretaker; his mother, Lillian Childs Basie, was a laundress, taking in washing and ironing. A brother, James, died when William was a young boy.

What kind of jazz did Count Basie play?

Count Basie is considered one of the greatest bandleaders of all times. He was the arbiter of the big-band swing sound and his unique style of fusing blues and jazz established swing as a predominant music style.

What became of Count Basie's daughter?

When William James “Count” Basie died of cancer in 1984, he left his $1.5 million fortune in a trust to provide for his only child. His daughter, Diane Basie, now 71 and living in Florida with full-time caregivers, is “severely retarded and only marginally communicative,” according to court papers.