Count Basie Early career What was the Count's big break? Basie gained his first steady job at Leroy's, a place known for its piano players and its "cutting contests." Did Leroy's lead to other opportunities? Willie "the Lion" Smith helped Basie out during the lean times by arranging gigs at "house-rent parties, Whose parties did the Count play at? I don't know. After the parties, what did the Count do for work? In 1928, Basie was in Tulsa and heard Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils, one of the first big bands, which featured Jimmy Rushing on vocals.
Did Basie get involved with Walter Page's band?
Did Basie get involved with Walter Page's band?
Around 1920, Basie went to Harlem, a hotbed of jazz, where he lived down the block from the Alhambra Theater. Early after his arrival, he bumped into Sonny Greer, who was by then the drummer for the Washingtonians, Duke Ellington's early band. Soon, Basie met many of the Harlem musicians who were "making the scene," including Willie "the Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson. Basie toured in several acts between 1925 and 1927, including Katie Krippen and Her Kiddies as part of the Hippity Hop show; on the Keith, the Columbia Burlesque, and the Theater Owners Bookers Association (T.O.B.A.) vaudeville circuits; and as a soloist and accompanist to blues singers Katie Krippen and Gonzelle White. His touring took him to Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Chicago. Throughout his tours, Basie met many jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong. Before he was 20 years old, he toured extensively on the Keith and TOBA vaudeville circuits as a solo pianist, accompanist, and music director for blues singers, dancers, and comedians. This provided an early training that was to prove significant in his later career. Back in Harlem in 1925, Basie gained his first steady job at Leroy's, a place known for its piano players and its "cutting contests." The place catered to "uptown celebrities," and typically the band winged every number without sheet music using "head arrangements." He met Fats Waller, who was playing organ at the Lincoln Theater accompanying silent movies, and Waller taught him how to play that instrument. (Basie later played organ at the Eblon Theater in Kansas City). As he did with Duke Ellington, Willie "the Lion" Smith helped Basie out during the lean times by arranging gigs at "house-rent parties," introducing him to other leading musicians, and teaching him some piano technique. In 1928, Basie was in Tulsa and heard Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils, one of the first big bands, which featured Jimmy Rushing on vocals. A few months later, he was invited to join the band, which played mostly in Texas and Oklahoma. It was at this time that he began to be known as "Count" Basie (see Jazz royalty). CANNOTANSWER
A few months later, he was invited to join the band, which played mostly in Texas and Oklahoma.
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, plunger trombonist Al Grey, and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams.

Biography

Early life and education
William Basie was born to Lillian and Harvey Lee Basie in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father worked as a coachman and caretaker for a wealthy judge. After automobiles replaced horses, his father became a groundskeeper and handyman for several wealthy families in the area. Both of his parents had some type of musical background. His father played the mellophone, and his mother played the piano; in fact, she gave Basie his first piano lessons. She took in laundry and baked cakes for sale for a living. She paid 25 cents a lesson for Count Basie's piano instruction.

The best student in school, Basie dreamed of a traveling life, inspired by touring carnivals which came to town. He finished junior high school but spent much of his time at the Palace Theater in Red Bank, where doing occasional chores gained him free admission to performances. He quickly learned to improvise music appropriate to the acts and the silent movies.

Though a natural at the piano, Basie preferred drums. Discouraged by the obvious talents of Sonny Greer, who also lived in Red Bank and became Duke Ellington's drummer in 1919, Basie switched to piano exclusively at age 15. Greer and Basie played together in venues until Greer set out on his professional career. By then, Basie was playing with pick-up groups for dances, resorts, and amateur shows, including Harry Richardson's "Kings of Syncopation". When not playing a gig, he hung out at the local pool hall with other musicians, where he picked up on upcoming play dates and gossip. He got some jobs in Asbury Park at the Jersey Shore, and played at the Hong Kong Inn until a better player took his place.

Early career
Around 1920, Basie went to Harlem, a hotbed of jazz, where he lived down the block from the Alhambra Theater. Early after his arrival, he bumped into Sonny Greer, who was by then the drummer for the Washingtonians, Duke Ellington's early band. Soon, Basie met many of the Harlem musicians who were "making the scene," including Willie "the Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson.

Basie toured in several acts between 1925 and 1927, including Katie Krippen and Her Kiddies (featuring singer Katie Crippen) as part of the Hippity Hop show; on the Keith, the Columbia Burlesque, and the Theater Owners Bookers Association (T.O.B.A.) vaudeville circuits; and as a soloist and accompanist to blues singer Gonzelle White as well as Crippen. His touring took him to Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Chicago. Throughout his tours, Basie met many jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong. Before he was 20 years old, he toured extensively on the Keith and TOBA vaudeville circuits as a solo pianist, accompanist, and music director for blues singers, dancers, and comedians. This provided an early training that was to prove significant in his later career.

Back in Harlem in 1925, Basie gained his first steady job at Leroy's, a place known for its piano players and its "cutting contests". The place catered to "uptown celebrities", and typically the band winged every number without sheet music using "head arrangements". He met Fats Waller, who was playing organ at the Lincoln Theater accompanying silent movies, and Waller taught him how to play that instrument. (Basie later played organ at the Eblon Theater in Kansas City). As he did with Duke Ellington, Willie "the Lion" Smith helped Basie out during the lean times by arranging gigs at "house-rent parties", introducing him to other leading musicians, and teaching him some piano technique.

In 1928, Basie was in Tulsa and heard Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils, one of the first big bands, which featured Jimmy Rushing on vocals. A few months later, he was invited to join the band, which played mostly in Texas and Oklahoma. It was at this time that he began to be known as "Count" Basie (see Jazz royalty).

Kansas City years
The following year, in 1929, Basie became the pianist with the Bennie Moten band based in Kansas City, inspired by Moten's ambition to raise his band to match the level of those led by Duke Ellington or Fletcher Henderson. Where the Blue Devils were "snappier" and more "bluesy", the Moten band was more refined and respected, playing in the "Kansas City stomp" style. In addition to playing piano, Basie was co-arranger with Eddie Durham, who notated the music.
Their "Moten Swing", which Basie claimed credit for, was an invaluable contribution to the development of swing music, and at one performance at the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia in December 1932, the theatre opened its door to allow anybody in who wanted to hear the band perform. During a stay in Chicago, Basie recorded with the band. He occasionally played four-hand piano and dual pianos with Moten, who also conducted. The band improved with several personnel changes, including the addition of tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.

When the band voted Moten out, Basie took over for several months, calling the group Count Basie and his Cherry Blossoms. When his own band folded, he rejoined Moten with a newly re-organized band. A year later, Basie joined Bennie Moten's band, and played with them until Moten died in 1935 from a failed tonsillectomy. The band tried to stay together but failed. Basie then formed his own nine-piece band, Barons of Rhythm, with many former Moten members including Walter Page (bass), Freddie Green (guitar), Jo Jones (drums), Lester Young (tenor saxophone) and Jimmy Rushing (vocals).

The Barons of Rhythm were regulars at the Reno Club and often performed for a live radio broadcast. During a broadcast the announcer wanted to give Basie's name some style, so he called him "Count". It  positioned him with Earl Hines, as well as Duke Ellington.

Basie's new band played at the Reno Club and sometimes were broadcast on local radio. Late one night with time to fill, the band started improvising. Basie liked the results and named the piece "One O'Clock Jump". According to Basie, "we hit it with the rhythm section and went into the riffs, and the riffs just stuck. We set the thing up front in D-flat, and then we just went on playing in F." It became his signature tune.

John Hammond and first recordings

At the end of 1936, Basie and his band, now billed as Count Basie and His Barons of Rhythm, moved from Kansas City to Chicago, where they honed their repertoire at a long engagement at the Grand Terrace Ballroom. Right from the start, Basie's band was known for its rhythm section. Another Basie innovation was the use of two tenor saxophone players; at the time, most bands had just one. When Young complained of Herschel Evans' vibrato, Basie placed them on either side of the alto players, and soon had the tenor players engaged in "duels". Many other bands later adapted the split tenor arrangement.

In that city in October 1936, the band had a recording session which the producer John Hammond later described as "the only perfect, completely perfect recording session I've ever had anything to do with". 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. Those four sides were released on Vocalion Records under the band name of Jones-Smith Incorporated; the sides were "Shoe Shine Boy", "Evening", "Boogie Woogie", and "Oh Lady Be Good". After Vocalion became a subsidiary of Columbia Records in 1938, "Boogie Woogie" was released in 1941 as part of a four-record compilation album entitled Boogie Woogie (Columbia album C44). When he made the Vocalion recordings, Basie had already signed with Decca Records, but did not have his first recording session with them until January 1937.

By then, Basie's sound was characterized by a "jumping" beat and the contrapuntal accents of his own piano. His personnel around 1937 included: Lester Young and Herschel Evans (tenor sax), Freddie Green (guitar), Jo Jones (drums), Walter Page (bass), Earle Warren (alto sax), Buck Clayton and Harry Edison (trumpet), Benny Morton and Dickie Wells (trombone). Lester Young, known as "Prez" by the band, came up with nicknames for all the other band members. He called Basie "Holy Man", "Holy Main", and just plain "Holy".

Basie favored blues, and he would showcase some of the most notable blues singers of the era after he went to New York: Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, Helen Humes, and Joe Williams. He also hired arrangers who knew how to maximize the band's abilities, such as Eddie Durham and Jimmy Mundy.

New York City and the swing years
When Basie took his orchestra to New York in 1937, they made the Woodside Hotel in Harlem their base (they often rehearsed in its basement). Soon, they were booked at the Roseland Ballroom for the Christmas show. Basie recalled a review, which said something like, "We caught the great Count Basie band which is supposed to be so hot he was going to come in here and set the Roseland on fire. Well, the Roseland is still standing". Compared to the reigning band of Fletcher Henderson, Basie's band lacked polish and presentation.

The producer John Hammond continued to advise and encourage the band, and they soon came up with some adjustments, including softer playing, more solos, and more standards. They paced themselves to save their hottest numbers for later in the show, to give the audience a chance to warm up. His first official recordings for Decca followed, under contract to agent MCA, including "Pennies from Heaven" and "Honeysuckle Rose".

Hammond introduced Basie to Billie Holiday, whom he invited to sing with the band. (Holiday did not record with Basie, as she had her own record contract and preferred working with small combos). The band's first appearance at the Apollo Theater followed, with the vocalists Holiday and Jimmy Rushing getting the most attention. Durham returned to help with arranging and composing, but for the most part, the orchestra worked out its numbers in rehearsal, with Basie guiding the proceedings. There were often no musical notations made. Once the musicians found what they liked, they usually were able to repeat it using their "head arrangements" and collective memory.

Next, Basie played at the Savoy, which was noted more for lindy-hopping, while the Roseland was a place for fox-trots and congas. In early 1938, the Savoy was the meeting ground for a "battle of the bands" with Chick Webb's group. Basie had Holiday, and Webb countered with the singer Ella Fitzgerald. As Metronome magazine proclaimed, "Basie's Brilliant Band Conquers Chick's"; the article described the evening:

Throughout the fight, which never let down in its intensity during the whole fray, Chick took the aggressive, with the Count playing along easily and, on the whole, more musically scientifically. Undismayed by Chick's forceful drum beating, which sent the audience into shouts of encouragement and appreciation and casual beads of perspiration to drop from Chick's brow onto the brass cymbals, the Count maintained an attitude of poise and self-assurance. He constantly parried Chick's thundering haymakers with tantalizing runs and arpeggios which teased more and more force from his adversary.

The publicity over the big band battle, before and after, gave the Basie band a boost and wider recognition. Soon after, Benny Goodman recorded their signature "One O'Clock Jump" with his band.

A few months later, Holiday left for Artie Shaw's band. Hammond introduced Helen Humes, whom Basie hired; she stayed with Basie for four years. When Eddie Durham left for Glenn Miller's orchestra, he was replaced by Dicky Wells. Basie's 14-man band began playing at the Famous Door, a mid-town nightspot with a CBS network feed and air conditioning, which Hammond was said to have bought the club in return for their booking Basie steadily throughout the summer of 1938. Their fame took a huge leap. Adding to their play book, Basie received arrangements from Jimmy Mundy (who had also worked with Benny Goodman and Earl Hines), particularly for "Cherokee", "Easy Does It", and "Super Chief". In 1939, Basie and his band made a major cross-country tour, including their first West Coast dates. A few months later, Basie quit MCA and signed with the William Morris Agency, who got them better fees.

On February 19, 1940, Count Basie and his Orchestra opened a four-week engagement at Southland in Boston, and they broadcast over the radio on February 20.
On the West Coast, in 1942 the band did a spot in Reveille With Beverly, a musical film starring Ann Miller, and a "Command Performance" for Armed Forces Radio, with Hollywood stars Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Carmen Miranda, Jerry Colonna, and the singer Dinah Shore. Other minor movie spots followed, including Choo Choo Swing, Crazy House, Top Man, Stage Door Canteen, and Hit Parade of 1943. They also continued to record for OKeh Records and Columbia Records. The war years caused a lot of members turn over, and the band worked many play dates with lower pay. Dance hall bookings were down sharply as swing began to fade, the effects of the musicians' strikes of 1942–44 and 1948 began to be felt, and the public's taste grew for singers.

Basie occasionally lost some key soloists. However, throughout the 1940s, he maintained a big band that possessed an infectious rhythmic beat, an enthusiastic team spirit, and a long list of inspired and talented jazz soloists.

Los Angeles and the Cavalcade of Jazz concerts 
Count Basie was the featured artist at the first Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field on September 23, 1945, which was produced by Leon Hefflin Sr.  Al Jarvis was the Emcee and other artists to appear on stage were Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers, The Peters Sisters, Slim and Bam, Valaida Snow, and Big Joe Turner. They played to a crowd of 15,000. Count Basie and his Orchestra played at the tenth Cavalcade of Jazz concert also at Wrigley Field on June 20, 1954. He played along with The Flairs, Christine Kittrell, Lamp Lighters, Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, Ruth Brown, and Perez Prado and his Orchestra.

Post-war and later years

The big band era appeared to have ended after the war, and Basie disbanded the group. For a while, he performed in combos, sometimes stretched to an orchestra. In 1950, he headlined the Universal-International short film "Sugar Chile" Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet. He reformed his group as a 16-piece orchestra in 1952. This group was eventually called the New Testament band. Basie credited Billy Eckstine, a top male vocalist of the time, for prompting his return to Big Band. He said that Norman Granz got them into the Birdland club and promoted the new band through recordings on the Mercury, Clef, and Verve labels. The jukebox era had begun, and Basie shared the exposure along with early rock'n'roll and rhythm and blues artists. Basie's new band was more of an ensemble group, with fewer solo turns, and relying less on "head" and more on written arrangements.

Basie added touches of bebop "so long as it made sense", and he required that "it all had to have feeling". Basie's band was sharing Birdland with such bebop musicians as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. Behind the occasional bebop solos, he always kept his strict rhythmic pulse, "so it doesn't matter what they do up front; the audience gets the beat". Basie also added flute to some numbers, a novelty at the time that became widely copied. Soon, his band was touring and recording again. The new band included: Paul Campbell, Tommy Turrentine, Johnny Letman, Idrees Sulieman, and Joe Newman (trumpet); Jimmy Wilkins, Benny Powell, Matthew Gee (trombone); Paul Quinichette and Floyd "Candy" Johnson (tenor sax); Marshal Royal and Ernie Wilkins (alto sax); and Charlie Fowlkes (baritone sax). DownBeat magazine reported: "(Basie) has managed to assemble an ensemble that can thrill both the listener who remembers 1938 and the youngster who has never before heard a big band like this." In 1957, Basie sued the jazz venue Ball and Chain in Miami over outstanding fees, causing the closure of the venue.

In 1958, the band made its first European tour. Jazz was especially appreciated in France, The Netherlands, and Germany in the 1950s; these countries were the stomping grounds for many expatriate American jazz stars who were either resurrecting their careers or sitting out the years of racial divide in the United States. Neal Hefti began to provide arrangements, including "Lil Darlin'". By the mid-1950s, Basie's band had become one of the preeminent backing big bands for some of the most prominent jazz vocalists of the time. They also toured with the "Birdland Stars of 1955", whose lineup included Sarah Vaughan, Erroll Garner, Lester Young, George Shearing, and Stan Getz.

In 1957, Basie the live album Count Basie at Newport. "April in Paris" (arrangement by Wild Bill Davis) was a best-selling instrumental and the title song for the hit album. The Basie band made two tours in the British Isles and on the second, they put on a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, along with Judy Garland, Vera Lynn, and Mario Lanza. He was a guest on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, a venue also opened to several other black entertainers. In 1959, Basie's band recorded a "greatest hits" double album The Count Basie Story (Frank Foster, arranger), and Basie/Eckstine Incorporated, an album featuring Billy Eckstine, Quincy Jones (as arranger) and the Count Basie Orchestra. It was released by Roulette Records, then later reissued by Capitol Records.

Later that year, Basie appeared on a television special with Fred Astaire, featuring a dance solo to "Sweet Georgia Brown", followed in January 1961 by Basie performing at one of the five John F. Kennedy Inaugural Balls. That summer, Basie and Duke Ellington combined forces for the recording First Time! The Count Meets the Duke, each providing four numbers from their play books.

During the balance of the 1960s, the band kept active with tours, recordings, television appearances, festivals, Las Vegas shows, and travel abroad, including cruises. Some time around 1964, Basie adopted his trademark yachting cap.

Through steady changes in personnel, Basie led the band into the 1980s. Basie made a few more movie appearances, such as in the Jerry Lewis film Cinderfella (1960) and the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles (1974), playing a revised arrangement of "April in Paris".

Marriage, family and death
Basie was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. On July 21, 1930, Basie married Vivian Lee Winn, in Kansas City, Missouri. They were divorced sometime before 1935. Some time in or before 1935, the now single Basie returned to New York City, renting a house at 111 West 138th Street, Manhattan, as evidenced by the 1940 census. He married Catherine Morgan on July 13, 1950, in the King County courthouse in Seattle, Washington. In 1942, they moved to Queens. Their only child, Diane, was born February 6, 1944. She was born with cerebral palsy and the doctors claimed she would never walk. The couple kept her and cared deeply for her, and especially through her mother's tutelage, Diane learned not only to walk but to swim. The Basies bought a home in the new whites-only neighborhood of Addisleigh Park in 1946 on Adelaide Road and 175th Street, St. Albans, Queens.

On April 11, 1983, Catherine Basie died of heart disease at the couple's home in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. She was 67 years old.

Count Basie died of pancreatic cancer in Hollywood, Florida on April 26, 1984, at the age of 79.

Singers
Basie hitched his star to some of the most famous vocalists of the 1950s and 1960s, which helped keep the Big Band sound alive and added greatly to his recording catalog. Jimmy Rushing sang with Basie in the late 1930s. Joe Williams toured with the band and was featured on the 1957 album One O'Clock Jump, and 1956's Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings, with "Every Day (I Have the Blues)" becoming a huge hit. With Billy Eckstine on the album Basie/Eckstine Incorporated, in 1959. Ella Fitzgerald made some memorable recordings with Basie, including the 1963 album Ella and Basie!. With the New Testament Basie band in full swing, and arrangements written by a youthful Quincy Jones, this album proved a swinging respite from her Songbook recordings and constant touring she did during this period. She even toured with the Basie Orchestra in the mid-1970s, and Fitzgerald and Basie also met on the 1979 albums A Classy Pair, Digital III at Montreux, and A Perfect Match, the last two also recorded live at Montreux. In addition to Quincy Jones, Basie was using arrangers such as Benny Carter (Kansas City Suite), Neal Hefti (The Atomic Mr Basie), and Sammy Nestico (Basie-Straight Ahead).

Frank Sinatra recorded for the first time with Basie on 1962's Sinatra-Basie and for a second studio album on 1964's It Might as Well Be Swing, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. Jones also arranged and conducted 1966's live Sinatra at the Sands which featured Sinatra with Count Basie and his orchestra at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. In May 1970, Sinatra performed in London's Royal Festival Hall with the Basie orchestra, in a charity benefit for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Sinatra later said of this concert "I have a funny feeling that those two nights could have been my finest hour, really. It went so well; it was so thrilling and exciting".

Basie also recorded with Tony Bennett in the late 1950s. Their albums together included In Person and Strike Up the Band. Basie also toured with Bennett, including a date at Carnegie Hall. He also recorded with Sammy Davis Jr., Bing Crosby, and Sarah Vaughan. One of Basie's biggest regrets was never recording with Louis Armstrong, though they shared the same bill several times. In 1968, Basie and his Band recorded an album with Jackie Wilson titled Manufacturers of Soul.

Legacy and honors

Count Basie introduced several generations of listeners to the Big Band sound and left an influential catalog. Basie is remembered by many who worked for him as being considerate of musicians and their opinions, modest, relaxed, fun-loving, dryly witty, and always enthusiastic about his music. In his autobiography, he wrote, "I think the band can really swing when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter."
 In Red Bank, New Jersey, the Count Basie Theatre, a property on Monmouth Street redeveloped for live performances, and Count Basie Field were named in his honor.
 Received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 1974.
 Mechanic Street, where he grew up with his family, has the honorary title of Count Basie Way.
 In 2009, Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, were renamed as Paul Robeson Boulevard and Count Basie Place. The corner is the location of 555 Edgecombe Avenue, also known as the Paul Robeson Home, a National Historic Landmark where Count Basie had also lived.
 In 2010, Basie was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
 In October 2013, version 3.7 of WordPress was code-named Count Basie.
 In 2019, Basie was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
 Asteroid 35394 Countbasie, discovered by astronomers at Caussols in 1997, was named after him. The official  was published by the Minor Planet Center on November 8, 2019 ().
 6508 Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood, California is the location of Count Basie's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Representation in other media
 Jerry Lewis used "Blues in Hoss' Flat" from Basie's Chairman of the Board album, as the basis for his own "Chairman of the Board" routine in the movie The Errand Boy.
"Blues in Hoss' Flat," composed by Basie band member Frank Foster, was used by the radio DJ Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins as his theme song in San Francisco and New York.
 In Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Brenda Fricker's "Pigeon Lady" character claims to have heard Basie in Carnegie Hall.
 Drummer Neil Peart of the Canadian rock band Rush recorded a version of "One O'Clock Jump" with the Buddy Rich Big Band, and has used it at the end of his drum solos on the 2002 Vapor Trails Tour and Rush's 30th Anniversary Tour.
Since 1963 "The Kid From the Red Bank" has been the theme and signature music for the most popular Norwegian radio show, Reiseradioen, aired at NRK P1 every day during the summer.
 In the 2016 movie The Matchbreaker, Emily Atkins (Christina Grimmie) recounts the story of how Count Basie met his wife three times without speaking to her, telling her he would marry her some day in their first conversation, and then marrying her seven years later.
The post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance have a song titled "Count Bassy" that is included on their 2018 album Artificial Selection.
In his novel This Storm, James Ellroy makes Basie a character who is blackmailed by corrupt Los Angeles police to play a New Year's Eve concert in exchange for ignoring a marijuana charge.

Discography
Count Basie made most of his albums with his big band. See the Count Basie Orchestra Discography.

From 1929 to 1932, Basie was part of Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra:
 Count Basie in Kansas City: Bennie Moten's Great Band of 1930-1932 (RCA Victor, 1965)
 Basie Beginnings: Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra (1929–1932) (Bluebird/RCA, 1989)
 The Swinging Count!, (Clef, 1952)
 Count Basie Presents Eddie Davis Trio + Joe Newman (Roulette, 1958)
 The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette, 1958)
 Memories Ad-Lib with Joe Williams (Roulette, 1958) 
 Basie/Eckstine Incorporated with Billy Eckstine ( Roulette 1959)
 String Along with Basie (Roulette, 1960)
 Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 (Impulse!, 1962)
 Basie Swingin' Voices Singin' with the Alan Copeland Singers (ABC-Paramount, 1966)
 Basie Meets Bond (United Artists, 1966)
 Basie's Beatle Bag (Verve, 1966)
 Basie on the Beatles (Verve, 1969)
 Loose Walk with Roy Eldridge (Pablo, 1972)
 Basie Jam (Pablo, 1973)
 The Bosses with Big Joe Turner (1973)
 For the First Time (Pablo, 1974)
 Satch and Josh with Oscar Peterson (Pablo, 1974)
 Basie & Zoot with Zoot Sims (Pablo, 1975)
 Count Basie Jam Session at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 (Pablo, 1975)
 For the Second Time (Pablo, 1975)
 Basie Jam 2 (Pablo, 1976)
 Basie Jam 3 (Pablo, 1976)
 Kansas City 5 (Pablo, 1977)
 The Gifted Ones with Dizzy Gillespie (Pablo, 1977)
 Montreux '77 (Pablo, 1977)
 Basie Jam: Montreux '77 (Pablo, 1977)
 Satch and Josh...Again with Oscar Peterson (Pablo, 1977)
 Night Rider with Oscar Peterson (Pablo, 1978)
 Count Basie Meets Oscar Peterson – The Timekeepers (Pablo, 1978)
 Yessir, That's My Baby with Oscar Peterson (Pablo, 1978)
 Kansas City 8: Get Together (Pablo, 1979)
 Kansas City 7 (Pablo, 1980)
 On the Road (Pablo, 1980)
 Kansas City 6 (Pablo, 1981)
 Mostly Blues...and Some Others (Pablo, 1983)
 88 Basie Street (Pablo, 1983)

As sideman
With Harry Edison
 Edison's Lights (Pablo, 1976)

Filmography
 Hit Parade of 1943 (1943) – as himself
 Top Man (1943) – as himself
 Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet (1950) – as himself
 Jamboree (1957)
 Cinderfella (1960) – as himself
 Sex and the Single Girl (1964) – as himself with his orchestra
 Blazing Saddles (1974) – as himself with his orchestra
 Last of the Blue Devils (1979) – interview and concert by the orchestra in documentary on Kansas City music

Awards

Grammy Awards
In 1958, Basie became the first African-American to win a Grammy Award.

Grammy Hall of Fame
By 2011, four recordings of Count Basie had been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

Honors and inductions
On May 23, 1985, William "Count" Basie was presented, posthumously, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. The award was received by Aaron Woodward.

On September 11, 1996, the U.S. Post Office issued a Count Basie 32 cents postage stamp. Basie is a part of the Big Band Leaders issue, which, is in turn, part of the Legends of American Music series.

In 2009, Basie was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

In May 2019, Basie was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Memphis, TN, presented by The Blues Foundation.

National Recording Registry
In 2005, Count Basie's song "One O'Clock Jump" (1937) was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. The board selects songs in an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

References

External links

 
 The Count Basie Orchestra official website
 Count Basie discography at iMusic.am
 International Jose Guillermo Carrillo Foundation
 Basie biography at swingmusic.net
 BBC Profile of Count Basie
 Downbeat Magazine
 U.S. Postal Service Biography
 Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – May 23, 1985
 Basie biography and album list
 Image of Wayne King, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Bill Elliot at Big Band Festival at Disneyland, Anaheim, 1964. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
 Count Basie recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

 
1904 births
1984 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century jazz composers
African-American jazz composers
African-American jazz musicians
African-American jazz pianists
African-American male actors
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American jazz pianists
American male jazz composers
American male jazz musicians
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Walter Sylvester Page (February 9, 1900 – December 20, 1957) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, best known for his groundbreaking work as a double bass player with Walter Page's Blue Devils and the Count Basie Orchestra.

Early life

Page was born in Gallatin, Missouri on February 9, 1900 to parents Edward and Blanche Page. Page showed a love for music even as a child, perhaps due in part to the influence of his aunt Lillie, a music teacher. Page's mother, with whom he moved to Kansas City in 1910, exposed him to folksongs and spirituals, a critical foundation for developing his love of music. He gained his first musical experience as a bass drum and bass horn player in the brass bands of his neighborhood. Under the direction of Major N. Clark Smith, a retired military bandleader who provided Page his first formal training in music, Page took up the string bass in his time at Lincoln High School. In an interview in The Jazz Review, Page remembers Major Smith: Major N. Clark Smith was my teacher in high school. He taught almost everybody in Kansas City. He was a chubby little cat, bald, one of the old military men. He wore glasses on his nose and came from Cuba around 1912 or 1914. He knew all the instruments and couldn’t play anything himself, but he could teach. ...[One day he was looking for a bass player and no one was around, so he looked at me, and said, "Pagey, get the bass."  I said, "But," and he repeated, "Get the bass." That's when I got started.

In addition to the influence of Smith, Walter Page also drew inspiration from bassist Wellman Braud, who Page had the opportunity to see when he came to town with a band under the direction of John Wycliffe. "I was sitting right in the front row of the high school auditorium", recalled Page, "and all I could hear was the oomp, oomp, oomp of that bass, and I said, that's for me."  What attracted Page to Braud was Braud's intensity. "When Braud got ahold of that bass, he hit those tones like hammers and made them jump right out of the box."

Career
After Page had completed high school, he went on to study to become a music teacher at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. At college, Page completed a three-year course in music in one year, in addition to taking a three-year course on gas engines. Between the years 1918 and 1923, he moonlighted as a tuba, bass saxophone, and string bass player with the Bennie Moten Orchestra. "Fridays and Sundays I played with Bennie Moten and Saturdays with Dave Lewis who was paying me $7.00 a night. Bennie was paying for my food and transportation, so when I'd be finished a weekend [sic] I'd made me $20.00 and had a ball."

In 1923, Page left the Moten band and began an engagement with Billy King's Road Show, touring the Theater Owners' Booking Association (TOBA) circuit across the United States. The band included Page's future Basie band mates Jimmy Rushing and Count Basie himself.
The band soon fell apart, however, which led to the formation of Walter Page and the Blue Devils in 1925. The Blue Devils were a territory band based out of the Oklahoma City-Wichita, Kansas area.  Throughout various times in its six-year lifespan (1925-1931) the band featured such noteworthy figures as Basie, Rushing, Buster Smith, Lester Young, and Hot Lips Page. In his autobiography, Basie recalls the first time he ever saw the Blue Devils Play: The leader was the heavyset, pleasant-looking fellow playing the bass and doubling on the baritone. His name was Walter Page, and at that time the band was known as Walter Page and his Blue Devils. But you could also hear the musicians addressing him by his nickname, which was Big 'Un. You could also tell right away that they didn't just respect him because he was the boss; they really liked him and felt close to him because he was also one of them."
Page wanted badly to have his band square off against Moten's band, which he states in an interview never happened. Gunther Schuller gives a different account though, writing that "an encounter finally did take place in 1928, and on that occasion Page is reputed to have 'wiped out' the Moten band." What is indisputable, however, is that Moten did seem to shy away from competition with the Blue Devils, opting to buy off individual members with higher salaries and absorb them into his own group rather than do battle directly. Basie and Eddie Durham defected in 1929, followed shortly by Rushing and eventually by Page himself. Despite this seemingly underhanded tactic, Page still felt that "[Moten] had one of the biggest hearts I knew of." Page attempted to keep his Blue Devils intact, but after the departure of such key members of his band, the difficulties mounted. Unable to find suitable replacements, facing booking problems, and dealing with a musicians' union conflict, Page eventually ceded control of the band to James Simpson. He then proceeded to join Moten's band himself in 1931, staying on until 1934.  Count Basie describes the immediate effect Walter Page had upon joining the Moten Band: "Big 'Un in there on bass made things a lot different in the rhythm section, and naturally that changed the whole band and made it even more like the Blue Devils."
In an interview published shortly before his death, Page recalls an encounter with Duke Ellington in 1934: I remember Duke coming through on his way West that year. They were playing the Main Street Theatre and some of the boys in Duke's band wanted to go hear Basie. [Wellman] Braud was in the band and he acted biggety, didn't want to go, said, "What's he got?" We were playing at the Sunset Club and finally Duke and the rest crept around the scrim and started sitting in. I was playing right on top of Duke and he told Basie he was going to steal me out of the band. Basie told him I owed him $300.00 and that's how I didn't get to join Duke during all those good years he had. It was the smartest move Basie ever made.

After his second stint with the Moten band, Page moved to St. Louis to play with the Jeter-Pillars band. Following the death of Moten in 1935, however, Basie took over the former Moten Band, which Page rejoined. Page stayed with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1935 to 1942, an integral part of what came to be called the "All-American Rhythm Section. Together with drummer Jo Jones, guitarist Freddie Green, and pianist Basie, the rhythm section pioneered the "Basie Sound", a style in which Page, as bass player, clearly established the beat, allowing his band mates to provide accompaniment more freely. Until this point, the rhythm of a jazz band was traditionally felt in the pianist's left hand and the kick of the bass drum on all four beats.

After his first departure from the Count Basie Orchestra, Page worked with various small groups around Kansas City. He returned to the Basie Band in 1946 for three more years. "Big 'Un just decided that he was ready to come back", recalled Basie. After his second stint with Basie, Page worked primarily as a freelancer until his life was cut short in 1957. The artists he worked with in the later portion of his career included former band mate and trumpeter Page, Jimmy McPartland, Eddie Condon, Ruby Braff, Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson, Buck Clayton, Rushing, and others, including many Basie alumni.

Death
The death of Walter Page on December 20, 1957 was very much a surprise, as the bassist had been playing gigs around New York City right up until his death. It is reported that Page contracted pneumonia on his way to a recording session in the midst of a snowstorm.
An obituary in Jet magazine from January 9, 1958 under the “Died” column, reads: "Walter Page, 57, one of the greatest jazz bass players, who helped Count Basie lead an invasion of Kansas City jazz to New York in 1935; of kidney ailment and pneumonia; at Bellevue Hospital in New York City."
It is speculated that Walter Page's early death may be a factor contributing to his relative obscurity in the history of jazz, despite his major influence and stylistic contributions. In an interview published only a month before his death in The Jazz Review, Walter Page expressed how he never sought praise and that he just wanted to know that he was appreciated for his influence on music.

Style and influence
More than any other jazz bass player in history, Page is credited with developing and popularizing the "walking bass" style of playing on all four beats, a transition from the older, two-beat style. "He started that 'strolling' or 'walking' bass", recalls Harry "Sweets" Edison, "going way up and then coming right on down. He did it on four strings, but other bass players couldn't get that high so they started making a five-string bass." Page himself acknowledged the influence of Wellman Braud, who may have been the first bassist to actually record the "walking bass" technique on Washington Wobble. While it remains unclear who, exactly, was the true 'originator' of the walking bass style, Page is nonetheless accepted as one of, if not the primary, proponent of the style.

Page is seen as the "logical extension of [bassist] Pops Foster", an influential bassist known for his dependable timekeeping. Page is also recognized as "one of the first bassists to play four beats to the bar", in contrast to the two-beat style of New Orleans jazz. 
Band mate Eddie Durham recalls how Page helped make the double bass a viable alternative to bass horns, such as the tuba:
"Without amplification, a lot of guys weren't strong enough on bass fiddle. But Walter Page you could hear!" Page's imposing stature led Durham to state that "he was like a house with a note." Jazz critic Gunther Schuller notes describes some of Page's other stylistic contributions: "For the bass functions simultaneously on several levels: as a rhythm instrument; as a pitch instrument delineating the harmonic progression; and, since the days of Walter Page, as a melodic or contrapuntal instrument." Page was also famous for his restraint, a lesson fellow bassist Gene Ramey recounts: "There's a whole lot [you] could do here... but what you must do is play a straight line, because that man out there's waiting for food from you. You could run chord changes on every chord that's going on. You've got time to do it. But if you do, you're interfering with that guy [the soloist]. So run a straight line."

Although he was not well known as a soloist, Walter Page recorded one of the earliest jazz solos on the double bass on "Pagin' the Devil" with the Kansas City Six. He did, however, contribute to the legitimacy of the double bass as a melodic instrument, "open[ing] the door for virtuosos like [Duke Ellington Orchestra bassist] Jimmy Blanton to garner more respect for the instrument", through improvisation. "Without Page setting the table", writes DiCaire, "the exploits of Blanton would never have happened." "I'm not just a bass player", Page once said, "I'm a musician with a foundation."
 
Page had a complex understanding of the roles of all the instruments in his bands, due in no small part to the fact that he was a multi-instrumentalist himself. In fact, on Blue Devil Blues, one of only two recordings of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Page begins on tuba before switching to string bass and finally baritone saxophone, playing all three "astoundingly well". Drummer Jo Jones recalled an instance when "somebody was fooling around [in the band], Mr. Walter Page left his bass, went down quiet as a cat, got the baritone, played the sax parts, and went back to his place."

Page is perhaps best known for his work with the Count Basie Orchestra from 1935 to 1942. Page, drummer Jo Jones, guitarist Freddie Green, and pianist Count Basie became known as the "All-American Rhythm Section" and set the standard for jazz rhythm sections that is still emulated and considered the gold-standard today. Together, the four musicians "created the bedrock for the band to pile on a superstructure of exciting riffs" writes Shipton. Page's playing was a great influence on Jo Jones, who "says that it was Page who really taught him to play in Kansas City: 'An even 4/4'." Indeed, Berliner notes that "During the swing period, Walter Page's largely stepwise walking bass accompaniment in Count Basie's band epitomized the changing emphasis on the four-beat approach to meter described by Foster." "As part of the pianist's outstanding rhythm section", says Richard Cook, "Page's rock-solid time and unflustered swing was a key part of the four-way conversation." Jo Jones describes the dynamic of the rhythm section as a process and a group endeavor: "We worked at it, to build a rhythm section, every day, every night. We worked alone, not with the band all the time. I didn't care what happened—one of us would be up to par. If three were down, one would carry the three. Never four were out." "At its best, the Basie rhythm section was nothing less than a Cadillac with the force of a Mack truck. They more or less gave you a push, or a ride, and they played no favorites, whether you were an E-flat or B-flat soloist."

Discography
With Count Basie
The Original American Decca Recordings (GRP, 1937-39 [1992])
With Buck Clayton
The Huckle-Buck and Robbins' Nest (Columbia, 1954)
How Hi the Fi (Columbia, 1954)
Jumpin' at the Woodside (Columbia, 1955)
All the Cats Join In (Columbia 1956)
With Lester Young and Buck Clayton
The "Kansas City" Sessions (Commodore, 1938 [1997])
With Paul Quinichette
For Basie (Prestige, 1957)
With Lester Young, Charlie Christian and Buck Clayton
From Spirituals to Swing (Vanguard, 1938 - 1939 [1999])
With Ruby Braff
The Ruby Braff Octet with Pee Wee Russell & Bobby Henderson at Newport (Verve, 1957)

See also
Kansas City Jazz
Count Basie Orchestra
Oklahoma City Blue Devils

Notes

American jazz double-bassists
Male double-bassists
African-American jazz musicians
Swing double-bassists
Count Basie Orchestra members
1900 births
1957 deaths
People from Gallatin, Missouri
Jazz musicians from Missouri
20th-century American musicians
Deaths from kidney failure
Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state)
Slap bassists (double bass)
20th-century double-bassists
American male jazz musicians
Oklahoma City Blue Devils members
20th-century American male musicians 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. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 1950s, the band survived long past the Big Band era itself and the death of Basie in 1984. It continues under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart.

Originally including such musicians as Buck Clayton and Lester Young in the line-up, the band in the 1950s and 1960s made use of the work of such arrangers as Neal Hefti and featured musicians such as Thad Jones and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Its recordings of this era included collaborations with singers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

History

Early years
Count Basie arrived in Kansas City, Missouri in 1927, playing on the Theater Owners Bookers Association (TOBA) circuit. After playing with Walter Page's Blue Devils, in 1929 he joined rival band leader Bennie Moten's band.

Upon Moten's death in 1935, Basie left the group to start his own band, taking many of his colleagues from the Moten band with him. This nine-piece group was known for its legendary soloists including, Joe Keyes and Oran 'Hot Lips' Page on trumpet, Buster Smith and Earle Warren on alto saxophone, Lester Young on tenor saxophone, Dan Minor on trombone, and a rhythm section made up of Jo Jones on drums, Walter Page on bass and Basie on piano. With this band, then named The Barons of Rhythm, Basie brought the sound of the famous and highly competitive Kansas City "jam session" to club audiences, coupling extended improvised solos with riff-based accompaniments from the band. The group's first venue was the Reno Club in Kansas City, later moving to the Grand Terrace in Chicago.

When music critic and record producer John Hammond heard the band on a 1936 radio broadcast, he sought them out and offered Basie the chance to expand the group to the standard 13-piece big band line-up. He also offered to transfer the group to New York City in order to play at venues such as the Roseland Ballroom. Basie agreed, hoping that with this new band, he could retain the freedom and spirit of the Kansas City style of his nine-piece group.

The band, which now included Buck Clayton on trumpet and the famous blues "shouter" Jimmy Rushing, demonstrated this style in their first recordings with the Decca label in January 1937: in pieces such as "Roseland Shuffle", the soloists are at the foreground, with the ensemble effects and riffs playing a strictly functional backing role. This was a fresh big band sound for New York, contrasting the complex jazz writing of Duke Ellington and Sy Oliver and highlighting the difference in styles that had emerged between the east and west coasts.

New York City
Following the first recording session, the band's line up was reshuffled, with some of players being replaced on the request of Hammond as part of a strengthening of the band. Trumpeters Ed Lewis and Bobby Moore replaced Keyes and Smith, and Earle Warren replaced the alto saxophonist Coughey Roberts.  In March 1937 the guitarist Freddie Green arrived, replacing Claude Williams and completing what became one of the most respected rhythm sections in big band history. Billie Holiday also sang with the band during this period, although she never recorded with them for contractual reasons.

Hits such as "One O'Clock Jump" and "Jumpin' at the Woodside" (from 1937 and 1938, respectively) helped to gain the band, now known as the Count Basie Orchestra, national and international fame. These tunes were known as "head-arrangements"; not scored in individual parts but made up of riffs memorized by the band's members. Although some of the band's players, such as trombonist Eddie Durham, contributed their own written arrangements at this time, the "head-arrangements" captured the imagination of the audience in New York and communicated the spirit of the band's members.

In 1938, Helen Humes joined the group, replacing Billie Holiday as the female singer. She sang mostly pop ballads, including "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" and "Blame it on My Last Affair", acting as a gentle contrast to the blues style of Jimmy Rushing.

The 1940s
The band became increasingly dependent on arrangers to provide its music. These varied from players within the band, such as Eddie Durham and Buck Clayton, to professional arrangers from outside the group, who could bring their own character to the band with each new piece. External arranger Andy Gibson brought the band's harmonic style closer to the music of Duke Ellington, with arrangements from 1940 such as "I Never Knew" and "Louisiana" introducing increased chromaticism to the band's music. Tab Smith contributed important arrangements at this time, such as "Harvard Blues", and others including Buster Harding and veteran arranger Jimmy Mundy also expanded the group's repertoire. Thelma Carpenter replaced Helen Humes as the new female vocalist, notably recording "I Didn't Know About You" for Columbia Records.

But the many new arrangements led to a gradual change in the band's sound, distancing the group musically from its Kansas City roots. Rather than the music being built around the soloists with memorised head arrangements and riffs, the group's sound at this time became more focused on ensemble playing; closer to the East Coast big band sound. This can be attributed to the increasing reliance on arrangers to influence the band with their music. It suggested that Basie's ideal of a big band-sized group with the flexibility and spirit of his original Kansas City 8-piece was not to last.

During the World War II years, some of the key members of the band left: the drummer Jo Jones and tenor saxophone player Lester Young were both conscripted in 1944, leading to the hiring of drummers such as Buddy Rich and extra tenor saxophonists, including Illinois Jacquet, Paul Gonsalves and Lucky Thompson. The musicologist Gunther Schuller has said that when Jo Jones left, he took some of the smooth, relaxed style of the band with him.  Replacements such as Sonny Payne, drummed much louder and raised the dynamic of the band to a "harder, more clamorous brass sound." The ban on instrumental recordings of 1942-1944 adversely affected the finances of the Count Basie Orchestra, as it did for all big bands in the United States. Despite taking on soloists from the next generation such as Wardell Gray, Basie was forced to temporarily disband the group for a short period in 1948, before dispersing again for two years in 1950. For these two years, Basie led a reduced band of between 6 and 9 people, featuring performers such as Buddy Rich, Serge Chaloff and Buddy DeFranco.

The 'Second Testament'
Basie reformed the jazz orchestra in 1952 for a series of tours, not only in the United States, but also in Europe in 1954 and Japan in 1963. The band released new recordings, some featuring guest singers such as Joe Williams, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstine. All relied on contributions from arrangers, some of whom are now synonymous with the Basie band: Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones and Sammy Nestico. Michael G. Nastos wrote of the recording with Eckstine: 
"When the Count Basie Orchestra consented to team up with vocalist Billy Eckstine, choruses of angels must have shouted hallelujah. The combination of Basie's sweet jazz and Eckstine's low-down blues sensibilities meshed well on this one-shot deal, a program mostly of downtrodden songs perfectly suited for the band and the man."

This new band became known as "The New Testament" or "The Second Testament". With albums such as  The Atomic Mr. Basie (1958), April in Paris (1957) and Basie Plays Hefti (1958), the new Count Basie Orchestra sound became identifiable. The sound of the band was now that of a tight ensemble: heavier and more full bodied, contrasting with the riff-based band of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Whereas previously the emphasis had been on providing space for exemplary soloists such as Lester Young and Buck Clayton, now the focus had shifted to the arrangements, despite the presence of soloists such as trumpeter Thad Jones and saxophonist Frank Foster. This orchestral style continues as the typical sound of the band up to the present day, which has been criticized by some musicologists. In his book The Swing Era, Gunther Schuller described the group as "perfected neo-classicism...a most glorious dead end." However, jazz critic Martin Williams offers a differing view. In his book Jazz Heritage, Williams wrote the following about a 1959 recording: " . . . obviously this Basie orchestra is an ensemble whose virtues center on discipline, precision, and collective power." In his book The Jazz Tradition, Williams wrote:
 "Since the mid-'fifties, the Count Basie Orchestra has been a superb precision ensemble, and perhaps the greatest brass ensemble of the century. And that fact adds an irony to a distinguished career, for it was not always such."

The Continuing Band
The Count Basie Orchestra continued releasing recordings and albums after Basie's death in 1984. For example, Basie is Back (2006) features new recordings of classic tunes from the Basie Orchestra's catalog, including the band's early hit "One O'clock Jump," and "April in Paris." The Basie band still collaborates with high-profile singers such as Ray Charles in Ray Sings, Basie Swings (2006), and with Allyn Ferguson on the album Swing Shift (1999). After Basie's death the band played under the direction of some of the players he had hired, including Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Grover Mitchell, Bill Hughes, and Dennis Mackrel. The band is currently under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart.

Leaders of the Count Basie Orchestra 
Count Basie 1935–1984

Thad Jones 1985–1986

Frank Foster 1986–1995

Grover Mitchell 1995–2003

Bill Hughes 2003–Sept. 2010

Dennis Mackrel 2010–2013

Scotty Barnhart 2013–present

Awards and honors

 2007- Long Island Music Hall of Fame
 2005- Inducted, Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award
 1984- Best Jazz Instrumental Performance Big Band 88 Basie Street
 1983- Winner NEA Jazz Masters
 1982- Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band Warm Breeze
 1981- National Trustees Award
 1981- Honoree, Kennedy Center Awards
 1981- Honoree, Hollywood Walk of Fame
 1980- Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band On The Road
 1977- Best Jazz Performance By a Big Band Prime Time
 1976- Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist (Instrumental) Basie and Zoot
 1970- Initiated in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
 1963- Best Performance by an Orchestra- For Dancing This Time By Basie! Hits of the 50s and 60s
 1960- Best Performance by a Band for Dancing Dance With Basie
 1958- Best Performance by a Dance Band- Basie (The Atomic Mr. Basie)
 1958- Best Jazz Performance, Group- Basie (The Atomic Mr. Basie)

Discography
For recordings by Count Basie without his big band, see Count Basie discography.

1937–1939, Brunswick and Decca labels
 The Original American Decca Recordings (1937–1939, GRP-Decca)

1939–1950, Columbia and RCA labels
 Super Chief (1936–1942, Columbia)
 The Complete Count Basie, Volumes 1-10 (1936–1941, CBS)
 The Complete Count Basie, Volumes 11-20 (1941–1951, CBS)
 Count Basie, Volume 1: The Count and the President (1936–1939, CBS)
 Count Basie, Volume 2: Lester Leaps In (1939–1940, CBS)
 Count Basie, Volume 3: Don for Prez (1940–1941, CBS)
 Count Basie, Volume 4: One O'Clock Jump (1941–1942, CBS)
 Count Basie, Volume 5: Avenue C (1942, 1945–46, CBS)
 Count Basie, Volume 6: The Orchestra and the Octet (1946, 1950–51, CBS)
 Count Basie and His Great Vocalists (1939–1945, Columbia)
 America's No. 1 Band: The Columbia Years (1936–1964, Columbia) 4-CD
 Complete Original American Victor Recordings (1941–1950, RCA sessions, reissued on Definitive)
 Kansas City Powerhouse (1929–1932, 1947–1949, RCA/Bluebird)
 Planet Jazz (1929–1932, 1947–1949, RCA/BMG)

The 1950s
 The Count! (1952 [1955], Clef)
 Basie Jazz (1952 [1954], Clef)
 Basie Rides Again! (1952 [1956], Clef) contains some tracks released on Basie Jazz
 The Swinging Count! (1953 [1956], Clef) contains some tracks released on Basie Jazz
 Dance Session (1953, Clef)
 Dance Session Album #2 (1952–1954, Clef)
 The Complete Roost Recordings (1954, Roost) - Stan Getz box-set with Getz guesting with Basie on a three tracks at the end of the set.
 King of Swing (1953–1954 [1956], Clef) contains tracks released on Dance Session and Dance Session Album #2
 Basie Roars Again (1953–1954 [1956], Clef) contains tracks released on Dance Session and Dance Session Album #2
 Basie (1955, Clef) reissued as The Band of Distinction (1956, Verve)
 Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings with Joe Williams (1955, Clef)
 April in Paris (1955–1956, Verve)
 The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards with Joe Williams (1956, Verve)
 Metronome All-Stars 1956 (1956, Clef) with Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams
 Hall of Fame (1956, Verve)
 Basie in London (live, 1956, Verve)
 One O'Clock Jump with Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald (1957, Verve)
 Count Basie at Newport (live, 1957, Verve)
 The Atomic Mr. Basie (1958, Roulette)
 Basie Plays Hefti (1958, Roulette)
 No Count Sarah with Sarah Vaughan (1958, EmArcy)
 Chairman of the Board (1959, Roulette)
 Sing Along with Basie with Joe Williams and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (1958, Roulette)
 Breakfast Dance and Barbecue (live, 1958, Roulette)
 Not Now, I'll Tell You When (1958, Roulette)
 Welcome to the Club with Nat King Cole (1959, Capitol)
 Basie One More Time (1959, Roulette)
 Basie/Eckstine Incorporated (with Billy Eckstine, 1959, Roulette)
 Strike Up the Band with Tony Bennett (1959, Roulette)
 In Person! (with Tony Bennett, 1959, Columbia)
 Everyday I Have the Blues with Joe Williams (1959, Roulette)
 Dance Along with Basie (1959, Roulette)

The 1960s
 I Gotta Right to Swing with Sammy Davis, Jr. (1960, Decca)
 Just the Blues with Joe Williams (1960, Roulette)
 The Count Basie Story (1960, Roulette)
 Not Now, I'll Tell You When (1960, Roulette)
 Kansas City Suite composed by Benny Carter (1960, Roulette)
 Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan with Sarah Vaughan (1961, Roulette)
 First Time! The Count Meets the Duke with Duke Ellington (1961, Columbia)
 The Legend composed by Benny Carter (1961, Roulette)
 Basie at Birdland (live, 1961, Roulette)
 Back with Basie (1962, Roulette)
 Easin' it (1962, Roulette)
 Basie in Sweden (live, 1962, Roulette)
 I Left My Heart in San Francisco with Tony Bennett (1962, Columbia)
 Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First with Frank Sinatra (1962, Reprise)
 On My Way & Shoutin' Again! (1963, Verve)
 This Time by Basie! (1963, Reprise)
 More Hits of the 50's and 60's (1963, Verve)
 Li'l Ol' Groovemaker...Basie! (1963, Verve)
 Ella and Basie! with Ella Fitzgerald (1963, Verve)
 Basie Land (1964, Verve)
 It Might as Well Be Swing with Frank Sinatra (1964, Reprise)
 Pop Goes the Basie (1965, Reprise)
 Basie Picks the Winners (1965, Verve)
 Our Shining Hour with Sammy Davis, Jr. (1965, Verve)
 Arthur Prysock and Count Basie with Arthur Prysock (1965, Verve)
 Basie Meets Bond (1966, United Artists)
 Live at the Sands (Before Frank) (live, 1966 [1998], Reprise)
 Sinatra at the Sands with Frank Sinatra (live, 1966, Reprise)
 Basie's Beatle Bag (1966, Verve)
 Broadway Basie's...Way (1967, Command)
 Hollywood...Basie's Way (1967, Command)
 Basie's Beat (1967, Verve)
 Basie's in the Bag (1967, Brunswick)
 The Happiest Millionaire (1967, Coliseum)
 Half a Sixpence (1967, Dot)
 The Board of Directors with The Mills Brothers (1968, Dot)
 Manufacturers of Soul with Jackie Wilson (1968, Brunswick)
 The Board of Directors Annual Report with The Mills Brothers (1968, Dot)
 Basie Straight Ahead (1968, Dot)
 How About This with Kay Starr (1968, Paramount)
 Standing Ovation (live, 1969, Dot)
 Basic Basie (1969, MPS)
 Basie on the Beatles (1970, Happy Tiger)
 High Voltage (1970, MPS)
 Afrique (1971, Flying Dutchman)
 Have a Nice Day (1971, Daybreak)
 Bing 'n' Basie with Bing Crosby (1972, Daybreak)
 The Songs of Bessie Smith with Teresa Brewer (1973, Flying Dutchman)

The Pablo Years
 Good Time Blues (live, 1970)
 Flip, Flop & Fly with Big Joe Turner (live, 1972)
 Jazz at Santa Monica Civic '72 with Ella Fitzgerald (live, 1972)
 Fun Time (live, 1975)
 Basie Big Band (1975)
 I Told You So (1976)
 Prime Time (1977)
 Montreux '77 (live, 1977)
 Milt Jackson + Count Basie + The Big Band, Vol.1 (1978)
 Milt Jackson + Count Basie + The Big Band, Vol.2 (1978)
 Live in Japan '78 (live, 1978)
 A Classy Pair with Ella Fitzgerald (1979)
 On the Road (live, 1979)
 A Perfect Match with Ella Fitzgerald (live, 1979)
 Digital III at Montreux (live, 1979)
 Kansas City Shout with Big Joe Turner (1980)
 Warm Breeze (1980)
 Send in the Clowns with Sarah Vaughan (1981)
 Farmer's Market Barbecue (1982)
 Me and You (1983)
 88 Basie Street (1983)
 Fancy Pants (1983)

Post Count Basie albums
 Long Live the Chief (1986, Denon)
 Diane Schuur & the Count Basie Orchestra with Diane Schuur (live, 1987, GRP)
 The Legend, the Legacy (1990, Denon)
 Big Boss Band with George Benson (1990, Warner Bros.)
 Freddie Freeloader with Jon Hendricks (1990, Denon)
 The Count Basie Orchestra Live at El Morocco (live, 1992, Telarc)
 Corner Pocket (live, 1992, LaserLight)
 Joe Williams and the Count Basie Orchestra with Joe Williams (live, 1993, Telarc)
 Basie's Bag (live, 1994, Telarc)
 Jazzin'  with Tito Puente & India (1996, RMM)
 Live at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (live, 1996, Blue Jackel)
 At Long Last with Rosemary Clooney (1998, Concord Jazz)
 Count Plays Duke (1998, MAMA)
 Swing Shift (1999, MAMA)
 Basie is Back: Recorded Live in Japan (2006, Village Music/Eighty-Eight's/Concord)
 Ray Sings, Basie Swings with Ray Charles (2006, Concord)
 Sinatra: Vegas with Frank Sinatra (live, compilation)  (2006, Reprise) 4-CD + DVD
 A Swingin' Christmas (Featuring The Count Basie Big Band) with Tony Bennett (2008, Columbia)
 Swinging, Singing, Playing (2009, Mack Avenue)
 A Very Swingin' Basie Christmas! (2015, Concord)
 Standing Room Only with Frank Sinatra (live, compilation, 2018, Capitol)
 All About That Basie (2018, Concord)
 Live at Birdland (2021, Candid)

References

 Atkins, Ronald, ed. (2000) Jazz: From New Orleans to the New Jazz Age. London: Carlton Books
 Stowe, David W. "Jazz in the West: Cultural Frontier and Region During the Swing Era", The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 1. Utah: Utah State University, February 1992.

External links
 Count Basie Orchestra - Official website
 Mack Avenue Artist Page
 CNN 2010 Interview
 Grovemusic

American jazz ensembles from Missouri
Big bands
Count Basie
Musical groups established in 1936
Summit Records artists
Pablo Records artists