Count Basie, 79, Band Leader And Master of Swing, Dead Count Basie, 79, Band Leader And Master of Swing, Dead by JOHN S. WILSON 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. Mr. Basie was, along with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, one of the pre-eminent bandleaders of the Big Band era in the 1930's and 40's. Mr. Basie's band, more than any other, was the epitome of swing, of jazz that moved with a built-in flowing intensity. This stemmed primarily from the presence in the rhythm section, from 1937 to the present, of both Mr. Basie on piano and Freddie Green on guitar. As one critic put it, they "put wheels on all four bars of the beat," creating a smooth rhythmic flow over which Mr. Basie's other instrumentalists rode as though they were on a streamlined cushion.

Among his band's best-known numbers were "One O'Clock Jump," "Jumpin' at the Woodside," "Li'l Darlin'" and "April in Paris." Mr. Basie, a short, stocky, taciturn but witty man who liked to wear a yachting cap offstage, presided over the band at the piano with apparent utmost casualness. He flicked out tightly economical, single-finger passages, directing his musicians with a glance, a lift of an eyebrow or a note hit gently but positively in passing. His piano style, which often seemed bare and simple, was an exquisitely realized condensation of the florid "stride" style of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson with whom Mr. Basie started. Unostentatious as Mr. Basie appeared, his presence was a vital factor in directing his band or any group of musicians with whom he might be playing. There was a memorable concert at Town Hall several years ago when a number of musicians, including Mr. Basie, were scheduled to perform in a variety of combinations. A group that included some Basie sidemen was on stage, playing in a ragged, desultory fashion, when Mr.

Basie arrived. The pianist in the combo gave up his seat to Mr. Basie who sat down, tinkled a few introductory notes, looked up at the drummer, nodded at the rest of the group and, when the combo took off, the musicians were playing as brilliantly and cleanly as they had been disheveled only a few moments before. Started Out a Drummer Mr. Basie was born in Red Bank, N.J., on Aug. 21, 1904, an only child who was christened William. He started out to be a drummer. But the obvious talents of another young Red Bank drummer, Sonny Greer, who was Duke Ellington's drummer from 1919 to 1951, discouraged young Basie and he switched to piano. While he was in his late teens, he gravitated to Harlem, where he encountered Fats Waller. "I had dropped into the old Lincoln Theater in Harlem," Mr. Basie once recalled, "and I heard a young fellow beating it out on an organ. From that time on, I was a daily customer, hanging onto every note, sitting behind him all the time.

He got used to seeing me, as though I were part of the show. One day he asked me whether I played the organ. 'No,' I said, 'but I'd give my right arm to learn.' "The next day he invited me to sit in the pit and start working the pedals. I sat on the floor watching his feet and using my hands to imitate him. Then I sat beside him and he taught me." Beginning in Vaudeville Through Mr. Waller, Mr. Basie got a job as an accompanist with a vaudeville act called Katie Crippen and Her Kids. He became an accompanist to the blues singers Clara Smith and Maggie Jones and he worked in a 14th Street dance hall. Then he joined a touring show headed by one Gonzel White, playing piano in a four-piece band. The Gonzel White show was stranded in Kansas City, Mo., a fateful location for Mr. Basie. For a year he played piano accompaniment to silent moves and then joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in Tulsa, Okla., a band that included--in addition to Mr.

Page, a bassist--Jimmy Rushing, the blues signer, both of whom would be key members of Mr. Basie's band. When the Page band broke up in 1929, Mr. Page, Mr. Basie and Mr. Rushing all joined Bennie Moten's orchestra, the leading big band in the Southwest, which became even stronger with their presence. When Bennie Moten died in 1935, the band disintegrated and Mr. Basie organized a small band to play at the Reno Club in Kansas City that became the nucleus of the band with which he gained his initial fame. Scale for the musicians at the Reno Club, where beer was a nickel and whisky was 15 cents, was $15 a week for playing from 8 P.M. to 4 A.M., except Saturdays when it was 8 P.M. until 8 A.M. And it was a seven-day week. From Bill to Count The band broadcast from the Reno Club on an experimental radio station. It was on one of these broadcasts that Bill Basie became Count Basie. "One night the announcer called me to the microphone for those usual few words of introduction," Mr. Basie once recalled.

"He commented that Bill Basie was a rather ordinary name and that there were a couple of well-known bandleaders named Earl Hines and Duke Ellington. Then he said, 'Bill, I think I'll call you Count Basie from now on. Is that all right with you?' I thought he was kidding, shrugged my shoulders and replied, 'O.K.' Well, that was the last time I was ever introduced as Bill Basie. From then on, it was Count Basie." The broadcast was picked up one night by John Hammond, the jazz enthusiast who had discovered Billie Holiday and helped Benny Goodman start his band. Mr. Hammond spread the word about the Basie band, went to Kansas City to hear it and support it and brought it to the attention of booking agents. As a result, the band got a date at the Grand Terrace in Chicago. To go on the road, Mr. Basie expanded his nine-piece band to 13 pieces. Pop Tunes With a Kick "I wanted my 13-piece band to work together just like those nine pieces," he explained. "I wanted 13 men to think and play the same way. I wanted those three trumpets and two trombones to bite with real guts.

But I wanted that bite to be just as tasty and subtle as if it were the three brass I used to use. In fact, the only reason I enlarged the brass was to get a richer harmonic structure. I said the minute the brass got out of hand and blared and screeched instead of making every note mean something, there'd be some changes made. "Of course, I wanted to play real jazz. When we played pop tunes--and, naturally, we had to--I wanted those pops to kick! Not loud and fast, understand, but smoothly and with a definite punch." Fletcher Henderson's band was playing at the Grand Terrace just before the Basie band arrived there. Mr. Basie's musicians had been playing "head" arrangements in Kansas City--treatments of the blues or pop tunes that were worked out on the stand. When the band left for Chicago it had only 12 written arrangements in its book. To help it through the Grand Terrace engagement, Fletcher Henderson, who had provided Benny Goodman with the arrangements that enabled his band to break through a year earlier, lent Mr. Basie some of his arrangements. "He was the only leader in the business who ever went out of his way to help me," Mr.

Basie said later. Despite the presence of Lester Young and Herschel Evans in the saxophone section, Buck Clayton in the trumpet section, Jo Jones on drums, with Jimmy Rushing and, briefly, Billie Holiday as vocalists, the Basie band struggled for a year after it left Kansas City. From the Grand Terrace, it moved on to New York and Roseland Ballroom (playing opposite Woody Herman's new, young band) where listeners complained that it was out of tune (not a surprising reaction since many of Mr. Basie's musicians were blowing patched-up horns and saxophones held together by rubber bands). The band flopped at a Pittsburgh hotel that had never booked a jazz band before. Even in Harlem, it puzzled the aware audiences at the Savoy Ballroom. Breakthrough on 52d Street Finally, Willard Alexander, a booking agent, in an effort to get the band on 52d Street, then the jazz center of New York, made a deal with the Famous Door, a shoebox of a room, 25 feet wide and about 50 feet long, which was having trouble doing business in the summer because it had no air-conditioning. Mr.

Alexander agreed to lend the club $2,500 to install an air-conditioner if it would book the Basie band. With Mr. Basie's 13 men in full cry at one end of this elongated closet, the sound ricocheting off the walls and rocketing down from the low ceiling, no listener could escape the exhilarating power of the band. "When they let you in the door," Ralph Gleason, the jazz critic, reported, "it was like jumping into the center of a whirlwind. The sound was almost frightening. Even more important was the fact that the Famous Door had national and local radio wires. "And that's when the whole fire started," said Mr. Alexander. By then a series of records by the Basie band had begun appearing (under a contract with Decca Records by which Mr. Basie was paid a total of $750 for 24 sides with no royalties--"probably the most expensive blunder in Basie's history," said Mr. Hammond) that included hit after hit--"Swingin' the Blues," "Jumpin' at the Woodside," "One O'Clock Jump" (his theme) and many others now considered jazz classics.

Jazz Stars in the Band The "book" of this early Basie band was based on blues and riffs developed on a blues structure. It was a loose and swinging band, built around distinctively individualistic solos by Lester Young, Hershel Evans, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Harry Edison, Dickie Wells, Vic Dickenson and, primarily, Mr. Basie himself. During the 1940's, many of the great jazz musicians of the decade passed through the band, among them Illinois Jacquet, Don Byas, Wardell Gray, Paul Quinichette, Lucky Thompson, J. J. Johnson, Paul Gonsalves and Clark Terry. In 1950, when big bands were falling apart, Mr. Basie cut down to an eight-piece group but by 1952 he was leading a big band once again. This second-generation big band differed from the early one in that it depended on arrangers for its basic style, a smooth, rolling, highly polished swing style for which Neal Hefti ("Li'l Darlin'"), Ernie Wilkins and Frank Foster ("Shiny Stockings") were among the most notable orchestrators.

One of the band's most popular arrangements, "April in Paris," was written in 1955 by Wild Bill Davis, a jazz organist who had originally developed it for his own small group. The key factor in popularizing it was a series of repetitions of the final few bars when, as the orchestra seemingly came to the end of the piece, Mr. Basie held up a finger and called out, "One mo' time!" Played for Presidents Soloists were less prominent in this second edition of the Basie band although it included some of the major jazz musicians of the post-50's years, such as Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Al Grey, Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis, Frank Wess, Jimmy Forrest and the blues singer Joe Williams. The Basie band played at President John F. Kennedy's inaugural ball, and in 1965 toured with Frank Sinatra. In 1981, Mr. Basie was honored along with Cary Grant, Helen Hayes and other stars as a recipient of Washington's Kennedy Center honors for achievement in the performing arts. At a White House reception, President Reagan said that Mr.

Basie was "among the handful of musicians that helped change the path of American music in the 30's and the 40's" and that he had "revolutionized jazz." In 1976, Mr. Basie suffered a heart attack. While he recuperated his band continued to fulfill engagements, frequently with Nat Pierce taking Mr. Basie's place at the piano and sometimes with guest conductors such as the trumpeter Clark Terry, who was a member of the Basie band in the 1940's. Within less than six months, however, Mr. Basie was back at the keyboard. During his last years, he had difficulty walking and rode out on the stage on a motorized wheelchair which he sometimes drove with joyful abandon. The Black Music Association honored Mr. Basie in 1982 with a gala at Radio City Music Hall. Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, Joe Williams, Oscar Peterson and Quincy Jones were among the stars to pay tribute. "He certainly made a notch in musical history," said Benny Goodman, 75 years old, the jazz clarinetist and bandleader. "He was a wonderful man.

He was a big force in music." The jazz pianist George Shearing said that Mr. Basie's greatest trademark was the three sweet, soft notes that ended many of his great swing-era compositions. "Can you imagine a man who kind of romps around the piano," Mr. Shearing said, "and those tiny tinkling things. You never got tired of that business at the end." The band will continue under the guidance of Aaron Woodward, an adopted son of Mr. Basie who has worked closely with the orchestra leader during the last year. Mr. Basie's wife, Catherine, died in April 1983. He is survived by a daughter, Diane Basie of Freeport. There will be a viewing at Benta's Funeral Home, 630 St. Nicholas Avenue at 141st Street, on Sunday from 1 to 7 P.M. The funeral service will be at noon on Monday at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, 132 West 138th Street.

Count Basie | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links | AllMusic Count Basie Biography by William Ruhlmann One of the towering figures in big-band jazz, with a lean piano style and a gift for setting tempos and making a rhythm section swing. Count Basie Theatre : William "Count" Basie Bio William "Count" Basie Bio William "Count" Basie (1904-1984) Even though the title of one of his band's most famous tunes, "The Kid from Red Bank," should have been a tip-off, many jazz enthusiasts assume that Count Basie was a native of Kansas City, because that's where he and his band first rose to national prominence. In reality, William Basie was born in Red Bank, to Harvey Lee Basie and Lilly Ann Childs Basie on August 21, 1904, in their home on Mechanic Street in Red Bank, NJ. A Young Count Basie Starts Making Music on the Jersey Shore Harvey Lee Basie was a coachman and caretaker, and Lilly Ann Childs Basie was a laundress, taking in washing and ironing. A brother, James, died when William was a young boy.

The family always owned a piano, and Lilly Ann paid twenty-five cents per lesson to a Miss Vandevere to teach William to play. In addition to assisting both parents with their work, William would also do chores at the Palace Theater in Red Bank so that he could get in for free. Projectionist George Ruth taught him to rewind the movie reels, switch between projectors, and operate the spotlight for the vaudeville shows. One day, the Palace's house piano player was unable to work. Basie offered to fill in, but the manager declined. The young Basie then waited for the film to start, crept into the orchestra pit, and accompanied the film anyway. He was invited back to play the evening show. Basie also went to the Lyric Theatre in Red Bank, just to hear the organ played by Harold LaRos, a local music appreciation teacher. Basie would later trace his life-long interest in the organ (which he never did get to play), back to those days. William Basie did not start out to be a piano player. In fact, his first love was the drums, and his father even purchased a trap kit for him.

However, his ambitions in that direction were forever erased after hearing Sonny Greer, another young drummer from nearby Long Branch. Greer, who would later go on to fame as the drummer for the Duke Ellington Orchestra, was already so obviously superior that Basie made a hasty retreat to the piano. Basie Hits the Asbury Park Music Scene As a piano and drums duo, William Basie & Sonny Greer won first place in an Asbury Park piano competition. Decades later, on an August morning in 1958, the two would be among fifty-seven musicians photographed on the stoop of a Harlem, New York brownstone by Art Kane to accompany an Esquire magazine article on the "Golden Age of Jazz." The result of Kane's first professional shoot, the photograph itself would later become as famous as the subjects it depicted, and the subject of a documentary film, "A Great Day in Harlem." An interactive version of Art Kane's "Great Day in Harlem" photograph can be found at harlem.org, which allows the user to click on each musician pictured for a brief bio and links to more detailed sites.

Basie quit high school after his junior year - a decision he would later call his worst mistake - and moved to Asbury Park with friend and sax player Elmer Williams. Both had been gigging steadily in the area, and their plan was to seek permanent work as musicians. They soon returned to Red Bank after discovering that autumn was a bad time of year for work in a resort town. However, they returned successfully to Asbury the following summer. 1924-1927 - On The Road In 1924, Basie moved to New York City. In New York Basie met and was influenced by the great stride pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, and before he was even twenty years old he was touring as a pianist and accompanist on the Columbia Wheel and TOBA vaudeville circuits. This experience as a supporting musician would later prove invaluable to his career as a band leader. In the history of jazz, there have been few band leaders as savvy and generous as Basie about allowing his fellow musicians to take the spotlight. In 1927 Basie was stranded in Kansas City when a tour went bust.

He remained there playing organ for silent films at the Eblon Theater, before joining bassist Walter Page's Blue Devils, an outfit that also included vocalist Jimmy Rushing and trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page. Each would later figure prominently in Basie's own band, and thus another hallmark of Basie's career was established -- the ability to strike up professional and personal relationships that would last for decades over many bands and many solo careers. Basie left the Blue Devils early in 1929 to play with other bands in the area, and later that year he schemed his way into the top band in the territory, the Bennie Moten band. Basie Gets His Own Big Band Moten's orchestra already had a piano player in Moten himself, but the band was so superior to all the others that Basie was undeterred in wrangling a position for himself as staff arranger and substitute piano player. Many of the other key members of the Blue Devils followed Basie to the Moten band as well. Like many bands of the day, the Moten band was run as a "commonwealth band," with each member of the band having a say in the band's operations if he wanted it.

During an internal dispute about an engagement at the Cherry Blossom club, which had formerly been the Eblon Theatre where Basie secured his first Kansas City gig, the band voted to oust Moten as its leader, and even though he was not one of the instigators, to install Basie as its new leader. The new band was billed as Count Basie and his Cherry Blossom Orchestra, marking the first time that the "Count" was officially added to Basie's name. Although many stories circulate about the genesis of his nickname, Basie recalled it as a tribute to his penchant for slipping off to have some fun during arranging sessions for the Moten band with Eddie Durham. As soon as they got a few good bars down Basie would slip out, and Moten would come looking for him saying, "Where is that no 'count rascal?" Despite a great love and respect for Bennie Moten, Basie recognized and accepted the opportunity to try his hand at leading his own band, but after a few months he jumped at the opportunity to work with Moten's new band, where he stayed until 1935, when Moten died unexpectedly while having his tonsils removed.

After Moten's death, Basie and saxophonist Buster Smith pieced together their own nine-piece outfit made up of former members of the Blue Devils and the Moten band. Dubbed Count Basie and His Barons of Rhythm, the band played a long engagement at the Reno Club in Kansas City, which turned out to be a critical turning point in Basie's career. Basie Meets John Hammond & Begins His Rise To Fame The Reno Club performances not only established Basie as a permanent band leader, but because they were broadcast over the radio, the band was exposed to new audiences far outside the territory. In Chicago, the broadcast was heard one night by a young music writer named John Hammond, who had slipped out to the parking lot during intermission at a club to fiddle with the shortwave radio set in his car. Hammond had already been instrumental in resurrecting the career of Bessie Smith, and during a later career as an A&R man at Columbia Records, he would be influential in the careers of artists as diverse as Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, and another Jersey Shore native, Bruce Springsteen.

But at the time, Hammond's interest in the Basie band was only in getting the band heard by a wider audience. He began writing about the band, inviting Basie in print to contact him, and repeatedly wondering why the Count hadn't done so yet. When Basie finally did write to him, Hammond immediately sent back word that he was coming to Kansas City, and he announced his presence one Sunday night by walking right onto the bandstand during a broadcast and sitting down on the piano bench next to Basie in between numbers. Hammond and Basie would share a lifelong friendship, and Hammond would later feature Basie during the famous "Spirituals to Swing" concerts that he organized at Carnegie Hall. Hammond arranged for a national booking deal with MCA and a record deal with Decca Records, and by 1937 an enlarged thirteen piece band known as the Count Basie Orchestra had moved to New York City and become one of the leading big bands. Even though his first marriage was disappointing and short, he relentlessly pursued his second wife, the dancer Catherine Morgan for years until she would go out with him. In fact, the first two times that he saw her, they didn't even speak.

The second time that they "didn't meet," she had him thrown out of the doorway of her dressing room. However, the third time that they met and finally spoke, Basie cockily announced that one day he was going to make her his wife. Despite the fact that their courtship dragged on for a decade, interrupted again and again by the demands of two entertainment careers, they were married by a justice of the peace in Seattle on Basie's birthday, August 21, 1942. They would spend over thirty years together and have a daughter, Diane. The Basies lived in New York, first in Manhattan and later in St. Albans, Queens, and finally in Freeport, Bahamas. The Count Basie Orchestra Over the next thirteen years the band toured and recorded relentlessly. They established a new home base at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, playing there regularly several times a year. Their recordings, including "One O'clock Jump," "Jumpin' At the Woodside," "Taxi War Dance," and "Lester Leaps In," marked the peak of the Kansas City sound.

In 1950, financial considerations forced Basie to disband the orchestra, and for the next two years he led small groups of between six and nine pieces, until in 1952 he reorganized the band again. The "second" Count Basie Orchestra was just as exciting and vibrant as the first, and perhaps even more important. This band toured even more aggressively than the first, but now to several continents as well. They played command performances for kings, queens and presidents, and issued a large number of recordings both under Basie's name and as the backing band for various singers, most notably Frank Sinatra. After more than thirty years in the business, at an age when many musicians were coasting on their elder statesman status, Basie made some of his best and best-known work. "April in Paris," "Shiny Stockings," "L'il Darling," "Corner Pocket," and even a hit single, "Everyday I Have the Blues," with Big Joe Williams singing, are just some of the monumental works produced by the band during this period.

For most of his career Basie chose to blend in with his own band, but with a good push from producer Norman Granz, in the last decade or so of his career he made a series of stellar small group recordings with featured guests including the pianist Oscar Peterson, the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, the tenor sax player Zoot Sims, and the singers Joe Turner and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. When the sixteen-piece big band was stripped down to just a rhythm section and a guest or two, it was impossible not to recognize the full dimensions of Basie's own abilities as a soloist. In 1976, Basie suffered a heart attack -- and although he recovered, he performed only when his health permitted, sometimes in a wheelchair. He died of cancer on April 26, 1984, and is buried in Pine Lawn Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. A Legacy of Great Jazz Over a sixty-plus year career, William "Count" Basie helped to establish jazz as a serious art form played not just in clubs but in theatres and concert halls. He established swing as one of jazz's predominant styles, and solidified the link between jazz and the blues.

Compared to the more complex, almost symphonic compositions and arrangements of some of the other leading bandleaders and composers of his time, most notably Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson, the Basie band's arrangements were usually straightforward "head arrangements," based on a simple riff or melody (the "head") made up and memorized by the band in rehearsal, and later played in performance as the background for soloists. The "first" Basie band was without peer in this regard, and many of their tunes began life as head arrangements. For instance "One O'clock Jump" was made up on the spot at the end of a radio broadcast. With ten minutes to spare in the broadcast, the announcer asked Basie what the next tune would be. The band had already played everything in its book for the evening, so Basie, noticing that it was almost one o'clock in the morning, said, "Call it 'One O'clock Jump,'" and launched into the stride influenced opening of the tune with the rhythm section. The band followed the rhythm section and the cues of each other, deploying and building upon riffs developed in their rehearsals, spontaneously creating a tune that would become one of the band's standards, and a jazz classic.

In the later years of his career and with the "second" Count Basie Orchestra, which relied more upon actual arrangements, Basie continued to use a simplicity of style as the basis for incorporating the more complex ideas of new composers and arrangers such as Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones, Wild Bill Davis, Sammy Nestico, and band members Frank Foster and Thad Jones. He would even edit their written scores, stripping down their work to what he recognized as the essential elements that would make a good work great. In the early days of his career, Basie performed in a hard, two-hand stride style suited more to solo work and accompanying silent films, but by the mid 1930's his playing had evolved into a more relaxed, spare style that made for an exciting interchange with the radiant soloists he chose to be members of his band. In a phrase, "less is more" perfectly describes Basie's style. He used simple, melodic phrases that were never overstated. His playing was deeply rooted in the 4/4 rhythms and chord progressions of the blues, making frequent use of "blue notes," flatted notes in a musical scale, even when not playing a straight blues.

All of this was possible because in addition to the musical skills of its leader, the Count Basie Orchestra was equally famed for the strength of its individual members. All luminous musicians and soloists in their own right, as members of the Count Basie Orchestra they played as a tight ensemble. Whether the tempo was fast or slow, whether they were punching an accent or quietly underscoring a soloist, the Basie band was loose, but played with authority as an ensemble. The influence of Basie's brilliance as a band leader cannot be underestimated in this regard. He had a knack for picking just the right musicians for the job that needed to be done at any given time. He filled holes in the band's sound by choosing players whose tone or style complemented that of the existing band members, and on occasion he even chose band members to set up internal competition. In the first Basie band, Lester Young and Herschel Evans would battle it out night after night, driving each other to new heights in their attempts to outdo each other, as would Frank Wess and Frank Foster in the second band. Yet the soloists needed a foundation, and they had the best in the Basie band's rhythm section.

For years the section featured Basie on piano, Freddie Green on guitar, Walter Page on bass, and Jo Jones on drums, but even after some of these members moved on, the Basie band's rhythm section swung with more flexibility, and was more responsive to the rest of the band than the rhythm section of any other band. Influenced by Basie's early work as an accompanist on the vaudeville circuit, the Basie rhythm section drove the rest of the band forward without ever overwhelming them.

The band's roster over its forty plus years under its leader does not just read like a who's who of jazz, it is a "who's who of jazz": the trumpet players Harry "Sweets" Edison, Thad Jones, Buck Clayton, Clark Terry, and Joe Newman; the trombone players Bennie Powell, Dickie Wells and Grover Mitchell; the sax players Don Byas, Paul Gonsalves, Illinois Jacquet, Charlie Rouse, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Herschel Evans, Earl Warren and Lester Young; the drummers Jo Jones and Sonny Payne; the guitarist Freddie Green; and of course the band's outstanding vocalists, including Jimmy Rushing, Billie Holiday, Helen Humes and Joe Williams are just some of the Count Basie Orchestra's alumni. Basie was self-effacing to a fault, always ready to share the spotlight, always willing to acknowledge the genius of others. Yet he was ambitious, always willing to take a chance and see what happened, and always willing to persevere when things didn't turn out exactly as planned.

As a young man he left his hometown to see if he could make a name for himself in the world, and even though he moved to a resort town just when everyone had left for the winter, he successfully returned the next year and never looked back. Despite being conflicted about the Moten band's mutiny, he recognized and accepted the opportunity that it presented him to try his hand as a band leader. The story of Basie's life and career, and the history of his music and orchestra are of course not a linear tale that can be told succinctly in just a few pages. Musicians, singers, composers and arrangers came and went over many years and over many ensembles, grouping and regrouping like the audience in a club. Some dropped by for just a night. Some stayed for years. Some came and went and came again. Many had important and influential careers in their own right, and perhaps more than anything else that is the legacy of William "Count" Basie. His orchestra was a unique band during a unique time in the history of jazz and American music.

It was full of outstanding musicians, composers and arrangers, but it was built and sustained by a man who as a musician, composer, arranger and band leader always seemed to know just the right note to strike at just the right time. No more, and no less. For More Information For more information about the life and career of William "Count" Basie, visit . Also available is Good Morning Blues , Basie's autobiography as told to Albert Murray, and The World of Count Basie , a collection of interviews with various Basie musicians by Stanley Dance (C. Scribner's Sons). Downbeat.com, the web site of Down Beat Magazine, is an excellent starting point for any investigation of jazz past or present. After a six-plus decade career, Count Basie's recording catalog is overwhelming. Since his death, there have been countless reissues, packages, and collections. Some are better than others, and beware the generic "Best Of" titles. However, a few good places to start listening are "The Best of Count Basie" , "April in Paris" , "The Atomic Basie" , "Sixteen Men Swinging" , and "Standing Ovation" .

THE BIOGRAPHY OF COUNT BASIE Webb Cuts Basie At The Savoy Another of the many jazz magazine articles on the site detailing big events in jazz history. This piece recounts the Count Basie vs. Chick Webb big band music Battle Of Swing held at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom in January of 1938. Bill Basie studied music with his mother as a child and played piano in early childhood. He picked up the basics of early ragtime from some of the great Harlem pianists and studied organ informally with Fats Waller. He made his professional debut as an accompanist for vaudeville acts and replaced Waller in an act called Katie Crippen and her Kids. He also worked with June Clark and Sonny Greer who was later to become Duke Ellington's drummer. It was while traveling with the Gonzel White vaudeville show that Basie became stranded in Kansas City when the outfit suddenly broke up. He played at a silent movie house for a while and then became a member of the Walter Page Blue Devils in 1928 and '29.

Included in the ranks of the Blue Devils was a blues shouter who was later to play a key role as early male vocalist with Basie's own big band, Jimmy Rushing. It was in fact the rotund Rushing who happened to hear Basie playing in Kansas City and invited him to attend a Blue Devil's performance. Basie soon joined the band after sitting in with them that night. Story continues below ↓ After Page's Blue Devils broke up Count Basie and some of the other band members integrated into the Bennie Moten band. He remained with Moten until his death in 1935. After Moten's death the band continued under the leadership of Bennie's brother Buster, but Basie started a group of his own and soon found a steady gig at the Reno Club in Kansas City employing some of the best personnel from the Moten band himself. The band gradually built up in quantity and quality of personnel and was broadcast live regularly from the club by a small Kansas City radio station. It was during one of these broadcasts that the group was heard by John Hammond, a wealthy jazz aficionado, who had himself worked as an announcer, disc jockey and producer of a live jazz show on radio.

Hammond decided that the band must go to New York. Through his efforts and support (at times even financially) the band enlarged its membership further and went to New York in 1936. Hammond installed Willard Alexander as the band's manager and in January of 1937 the Count Basie band made its first recording with the Decca record label. By the following year the Basie big band had become internationally famous, anchored by the leader's simple and sparse piano style and the rhythm section of Freddie Greene guitar, Walter Page bass, and Jo Jones drums. The great soloists of this band included Jimmy Rushing as vocalist, Lester Young and Herschel Evans tenor saxes, Earl Warren on alto, Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpets, and Benny Morton and Dickie Wells on trombones, among others. Also contributing to the bands success were the arrangements by Eddie Durham and others in the band and the "head" arrangements spontaneously developed by the group. Despite the occasional losses of key soloists, throughout the 1940s Basie maintained a big band that possessed an infectious rhythmic beat, an enthusiastic team spirit, and a long list of inspired and talented jazz soloists.

Among the long line of budding stars to pass through the Basie aggregation's ranks during these years were tenor men, Lester Young, Herschel Evans, Don Byas, Buddy Tate, Lucky Thompson, Illinois Jacquet, and Paul Gonsalves. On trumpets the list includes Buck Clayton, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Joe Newman, and Emmett Berry. In the trombone section Dickie Wells, Benny Morton, Vic Dickenson, and J.J. Johnson all had stints with Basie in the 40s. Story continues below ↓ Billy May Biography The trumpeter, bandleader, composer and arranger died Jan. 22, 2004. May wrote many Swing Era classics for Glenn Miller and Charlie Barnet and later for Sinatra and Nat Cole. Except for a period in 1950 and '51, when economic conditions forced him to tour with a septet, Basie maintained a highly swinging big band that, at one time or another, included Clark Terry, Wardell Gray, Al Grey, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Thad Jones, Sonny Payne, Joe Wilder, Benny Powell, and Henry Coker.

In 1954 Joe Williams became the band's full time male vocalist. By 1955 he had infused the Basie band with new life and further commercial success beginning with Every Day I Have The Blues. Also during this period arrangers Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkins contributed many fine swinging arrangements to the band's book. These great men of music coupled with Basie's undying allegiance to the beat and the 12 bar blues allowed the band to consistently turn out records of extremely high caliber well into even the 1970s. Count Basie's health began deteriorating in 1976 when he suffered a heart attack that put him out of commission for several months. Following another stay in the hospital in 1981 he began appearing on stage driving an electric wheel chair. Count Basie died of cancer at 79.

Along with a number of Grammy awards the Count and his big bands won the following Jazz polls: Esquire's Silver Award in 1945; Down Beat reader's poll in 1955, '57 -'59; Metronome Poll '58 -'60; Down Beat Critics Poll '54 -'57; Playboy All Stars' All Stars '59. As pianist, Basie won the Metronome Poll in '42 - '43. In 1958 Count Basie was elected to the Down Beat Hall Of Fame. The Basie big band was originally scheduled to play the Palomar Ballroom in L.A. on his first West Coast tour. Unfortunately by the time he got to California, the famous Palomar had burned to the ground. (See the Charlie Barnet bio for another pic and more info on the fire.) Arrangements were hastily made for the Count's ork to appear at Sweet's Ballroom in Oakland. The actual article as it appeared in Down Beat following the Chick Webb vs. Count Basie big band battle at the Savoy .

The Basie band was unheralded prior to this event especially by George Simon of Metronome magazine. Following this night however Basie gained a reputation as leading one of the best big bands in the country. Saxophone Archives - Lonely Street Marshal Royal, Jr. (sometimes known as Marshall Royal; May 12, 1912 – May 9, 1995) was an American clarinetist and alto saxophonist best known for his work with Count Basie, with whose band he played for nearly twenty years. Early life and education Marshal Royal Jr. was born into a musical family in Oklahoma, the elder brother of trumpeter Ernie Royal and learned to play piano, violin, guitar, clarinet and sax while still a child. The family had moved to Los Angeles, California by the time he was five, and he always considered himself to be a Californian. His mother, Ernestine Walton Royal, began giving him piano lessons when he was three, and his father, from Sherman, Texas, began teaching him violin when he was six.

(Royal notes in his memoir: “We seem to be only people named ‘Marshal’ who spell it with only one ‘L.'”) Because his father was such a successful music teacher in Sherman, a street there is named for him: Music Street. Career Royal’s first professional gig was with Lawrence Brown’s band at Danceland in Los Angeles, and he soon had a regular gig at the Apex, working for Curtis Mosby in Mosby’s Blue Blowers, a 10-piece band. He then began an eight-year (1931–1939) stint with the Les Hite orchestra at Sebastian’s Cotton Club, which was near the MGM studios in Los Angeles. He spent 1940 to 1942 with Lionel Hampton With his brother, Ernie, he served in the U.S. Navy in the 45-piece regimental band that was attached to the Navy’s preflight training school for pilots at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California. Because he was married, Royal was allowed to stay off-campus, and like several others in the band, he found lodging in San Francisco, 26 miles away. The band’s routine at St.

Mary’s consisted of playing for colors daily at 8.a.m, and then rehearsing until they played again for the cadets to march to lunch, at noon. Bandsmen were allowed to eat in the same lunchroom as the cadets, after the cadets were finished eating, and they were fed the same food. The band also played for bond rallies, regimental reviews, at football games, and in concerts for the cadets and the community. Two swing bands were organized from the larger regimental band, and they played for smokers and dances at USOs and officers clubs. Royal was leader of the Bombardiers, one of those bands, which also included his brother, Ernie, Jackie Kelson (who later became known as Jackie Kelso), Buddy Collette, Andy Anderson, Earl Watkins, Jerome Richerson, Wilbert “Willie” Baranco, Curtis Lowe as well a Vernon Alley (also from the Lionel Hampton band) who would become “the most distinguished jazz musician in San Francisco history.” After his military service, Royal played with Edie Haywood and then went on to work in studios in LA.

In 1951 Royal replaced Buddy DeFranco as clarinetist with Count Basie’s septet, which Basie had formed after circumstances forced him to dissolve his big band. When the Basie band was reformed the following year, Royal stayed on as lead alto saxophonist and as music director — not to leave until 1970. When he left Basie in 1970, Royal settled permanently in Los Angeles, continuing to play and record, working with Bill Berry’s big band, Frank Capp and Nat Pierce, Earl Hines and Duke Ellington. Royal recorded as a soloist with Dave Fishberg in 1977, and with Warren Vache 1978. He co-led a band with Snooky Young in the 1970s and 1980s, recording with it in 1978, and with Ella Fitzgerald and Gene Harris,, among others. In 1989 he took the lead alto chair with Frank Wess’s band. Royal was a guest soloist on The Lawrence Welk Show(Salute to Irving Berlin).

Armstrong | Basie | Ellington | Fitzgerald | Goodman | Hawkins | Henderson | Holiday | Miller | Waller | Young LOUIS ARMSTRONG (1901-1971) Trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong was the first jazz musician to combine musical brilliance with a cultivated public persona as entertainer (bandleader, film actor, comic). His virtuoisity as a soloist led to abandonment of the previous standard practice in jazz of concentrating on individual instruments' relation to the group as a whole, and to increased importance of solos. Armstrong established the rhythmic approach to improvisation which became known as "swinging," and which led to swing as a specific genre of jazz. In the 1936 book Swing That Music, Armstrong discussed his personal experiences in jazz, as well as the evolution of jazz and the transition from jazz to swing. Top COUNT BASIE (1904-1984) Renowned pianist, composer, and big band leader William "Count" Basie studied piano as a child with his mother, and was later influenced by James P. Johnson and mentored by Fats Waller.

A vaudeville accompanist, Basie settled in Kansas City in 1927 when he found himself there without enough money for fare back east. There, Basie played with the Bennie Moten band, and he became the band's leader upon Moten's death in 1935. The band included saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, and trumpeter-composer Thad Jones. By 1936, Basie's band was playing regular gigs at the Reno Club, from which there were many late-night radio broadcasts, often reaching as far as Chicago. Jazz critic and producer John Hammond heard one of these broadcasts and travelled to Kansas City to write about the band for Down Beat and to arrange a contract with the MCA talent agency. Count Basie's band's work at Decca (1937-1939) and at Columbia (1939-1946) constitute some of the best-loved swing ever recorded: "One O'Clock Jump," "Jumpin' at the Woodside," "Taxi War Dance," "Miss Thing," "Lester Leaps In," etc.

The Count Basie band was known for playing with the tightness and versatility of a smaller group, and for experimenting with innovative new rhythms which would inspire the transition into bebop. Basie's orchestra disbanded in 1950. The subsequent band Basie formed in 1952 relied less heavily on the improvisational power of soloists, and more on the organizational power of arrangers. Top DUKE ELLINGTON (1899-1974) An influential pioneer of the big band form. Composer, bandleader, and pianist Ellington brought prestige to jazz and, particularly, swing. He has been referred to as America's greatest composer in any genre. His fifty years as orchestra leader left thousands of compositions, ranging in size and scope from standards to extended suites. Ellington's study of classical piano began at age seven, and his middle-class parents encouraged him to pursue it as a career. A year after beginning to play professionally, at seventeen, however, Ellington turned away from the classical style. Having been captivated by ragtime as a teenager, Ellington began to play jazz exclusively.

In the early 1930s, Ellington's exotic "jungle style" captivated white audiences at the New York Cotton Club. As his career progressed, Ellington turned more and more towards concert, rather than nightclub or dance-hall settings. His stylistic innovation of grouping instruments from different sections of the band broke from the swing standard of pitting one instrument against another, and resulted in rich, unique sounds. In the 1950s, the tecnological move to the LP, which allowed extended play of twenty-five to thirty minutes per side, released the restriction of time, and Ellington started writing extended pieces. Among these was the Such Sweet Thunder suite, inspired by Shakespearean themes. Ellington's songs "Mood Indigo," "Solitude," "In A Sentimental Mood," and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" remain pop standards. The fact that he also created film scores, operas, ballets, Broadway shows, church music, and symphony orchestras contributed to Ellington's own prestige, and to that of the jazz and swing genres as a whole.

Top BENNY GOODMAN (1909-1986) Goodman's pioneering work as a clarinetist and orchestra leader earned him the title "King of Swing." He was crucial in inspiring the movement of jazz from the margins to the mainstream. To many, the popularity he achieved, particularly with white audiences following a famed performance at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935, signified the official beginning of the "Swing Era." By 1937, Goodman's performances were complete with screaming fans and ecstatic, jitterbugging bobby-soxers rushing the stage. In 1935, Goodman helmed the first interracial popular jazz band: the Benny Goodman Trio, with drummer Gene Krupa and pianist Teddy Wilson. This was one of many small groups in which Goodman played, in addition to his big band. This small-group swing inspired a return to the traditional jazz heritage of smaller performance groups. Goodman thus indirectly inspired the genesis of post-Swing modern jazz, a style he did not favor. As a clarinet soloist Goodman received praise for technical cleanliness. Notorious for perfectionism, he was purportedly a difficult boss as bandleader.

The "King of Swing" was immortalized in the 1955 biopic The Benny Goodman Story. Top BILLIE HOLIDAY (1915-1959) Influenced by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday is considered one of jazz's greatest vocalists. Her improvisational genius left its mark on popular standards, and she introduced the memorable "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child." Holiday's father was a guitar and banjo player in Fletcher Henderson's band, and she entered the world of professional music as a teenager, signing with Columbia Records in 1933. Holiday had received no formal musical training, but quickly proved she could hold her own with swing's best. Her first recordings were with the bands of Benny Goodman and Count Basie, and she toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw in 1937 and 1938. Earning the nickname "Lady Day," Holiday attained great popularity in the New York club scene during the 1940s. Her post-war Decca recordings, epitomized by the hit "Lover Man," were extremely successful.

However, struggles with heroin addiction led to a certain unevenness in quality, particularly by the 1950s, when Holiday recorded with Verve Records. In 1959, Billie Holiday died of a kidney ailment. Top GLENN MILLER (1904-1944) An enormously popular trombonist, composer, arranger and bandleader, Miller's music has come to serve as a sort of shorthand for the perseverant American spirit in the years leading up to, and during, World War II. The Glenn Miller Band was known for its romantic ballads on one hand, and for jubilant, energetic hard swing on the other. After a brief period of study at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Miller joined the Ben Pollack orchestra in California in 1924. Following a decade of steady work, in 1937 the ambitious Miller formed the first of several bands which would mark his meteoric rise. After the failure of this band, one formed a year later signed with Victor Records and recorded "Moonlight Serenade," which exhibited the characteristic strong clarinet of Miller's work.

With success at Long Island dance hall Glen Island Casino, Miller's band rose in popularity throughout 1939, achieving a huge hit with "In the Mood" in 1940. Miller appeared in two of the most successful big-band centered Hollywood films: Sun Valley Serenade (1941) and Orchestra Wives (1942). In 1942, Miller gave up his position as leader of America's most popular swing band in order to serve the war effort. After a standard stint in the Army Air Force, Miller became leader of the band at the Technical Training Command at Yale University. In June 1944, this band was transferred to England, where it played dances, concerts, broadcasts, and recording sessions daily. Once France was liberated, the Air Force band was to transfer to Paris. The band arrived there for a Christmas broadcast, but Miller himself never made it, his small plane having been lost in the English Channel on December 15. Miller's posthumous popularity was enormous. In 1953, a saccharine biopic The Glenn Miller Story, achieved great success.

Miller's brand of swing remains a window, for many, onto a uniquely American spirit and exuberance during a particularly trying time. Some critics question the Glenn Miller Band's place in the jazz canon, arguing that its style is at times far removed from the jazz tradition. Nevertheless, the superbly complex structure of Miller's swing pop standards gains praise as uncommon for popular music. Top FATS WALLER (1904-1943) A brilliant stride pianist and composer ("Honeysuckle Rose," "Ain't Misbehavin'"), Julliard-trained Fats Waller attained significant commercial success. Many believe, however, that this popularity occurred at the expense of full artistic freedom. Waller cultivated a slapstick comic persona; his humorous vocals appealed to a mainstream audience which may not have been willing to recognize Waller's true artistic abilities. Although Waller's minister father had expected his son to devote his life to religion, Waller began work as an organist at age 15. He studied with James P. Johnson, who proved a great influence. Soon after his first recordings in 1922, other jazz and blues artists took note of Waller's great composition skill and began recording versions of his songs.

Waller's immense popularity led to touring success on the West Coast and in Europe during the 1930s. He also appeared in successful films, most notably 1943's Stormy Weather. The stress of legal battles over alimony contributed to Waller's abrupt death of pneumonia at age 38. Top LESTER YOUNG (1909-1959) A product of the Kansas City Jazz scene of the mid-1930s, Lester Young broke onto the national scene as a member of Count Basie's band. Earning the nickname "Pres" (or "Prez") after Billie Holiday called him the "president of tenor saxophonists," Young's unique improvisational style left its mark on swing and inspired such modern jazz musicians as Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, and John Coltrane. His style was characterized by a "swinging" lightness of texture, a relaxed divergence from many of the swing orchestrations of the 1930s. Young's most influential work includes "Taxi War Dance," "D.B.

Blues," and "Lester Leaps In." Freddie Green Bio & Technique | Jazz Rhythm Guitar Discuss Freddie Green @ this thread in the Jazz Guitar Forum "Freddie Green has been my right arm for thirty years. And if he leaves the band one day, I'll probably leave with him." - Count Basie Freddie Green is considered by jazz guitarists to be the rhythm master. By any standard of guitar, Green perfected and helped to evolve the guitar as an indispensable rhythm instrument for big bands seeking to compete with the best. He made history as a guitarist with Count Basie's big band, known as the All-American Rhythm Section and while with Basie, stylized his rhythm swing sound to a level unparalleled to this day. Considering the amazing evolution and continued popularity of guitar as a lead solo instrument, Green's legacy is unique in the sense that he seemed perfectly content to perfect his art in the more constrained role of rhythm accompaniment. Using big acoustic jazz guitars without cutaways (see also Freddie Green's guitars ), his sound is legendary and possibly copied as much by rhythm guitar players as Charlie Christian's and Wes Montgomery's innovative ground breaking solos are copied by jazz guitar soloists. The jazz world eventually designated Freddie “Mr.

Rhythm” which was created with reverence and affection to state his mastery of the medium. Greens rhythm prowess was legendary as reflected in a quote by Wes Montgomery: It would be alright, but I don't know that many chords. I'd be loaded if I knew that many. I'd probably go join a (big) band and play rhythm, man, because he's not just playing chords, he's playing a LOT of chords... Freddie Green's Bio "By playing in dance venues, Green perfected his control of tempo, resulting in an exceptional control of rhythm and making him the maestro of rhythm guitar." Freddie Green picked up the banjo at age 12 and by age 26, found himself playing with a band called the Nighthawks in his local environs. Already honing his skills as a pro by touring and performing consistently, Green eventually aimed his career path at New York where all the big clubs were located plus where the bands and famous players were either living or making a habit of playing regularly. By 1930 he had moved to New York (after his parents died) and started playing in dance clubs, or just about any venue that he could land a gig with.

Freddie had to support himself with a day job while he beat the pavement to find guitar gigs, so he accepted daytime employment as an upholsterer while eventually playing gigs at night. While playing at the Yeah Man Club, Green was advised by the club manager to switch from banjo to guitar and he never looked back. Soon Green was playing at the Excelsior Club with pianist Willie Gant and by 1936 he landed a high profile spot playing in the Black Cat Club in Greenwich Village with Lonnie Simmons and drummer Kenny Clark. Count Basie It was during his appearances at the Black Cat that John Hammond (the same guy that got Charlie Christian a place in Benny Goodman's band) discovered Freddie Green and soon admired his exceptional guitar talents. Hammond was so impressed that he set up an audition with the Count Basie band. In the true sense of the phrase, “the rest is history”, Green got accepted and kept his spot with Count Basie until March 1987, a rare tenure of that length in the music industry which lasted for 50 years.

In fact, it was after Greens final gig with Basie, on March 1, 1987, that he collapsed and died from a massive heart attack. His legacy would for ever be indelibly printed on the sound of the “big band” guitarist. On March 26, 1937, Green recorded his first sessions with Basie and his Orchestra for Decca, performing on the tunes Honeysuckle Rose, Pennies From Heaven, Swinging At The Daisy Chain and Roseland Shuffle. Greens impeccable rhythmic skills formed a synergistic fusion with Basie's piano and his orchestra's smooth rhythm foundation. Green followed Basie's band to play a part in John Hammond's “Spirituals to Swing” concerts between '38 and '39. These concerts featured jazz giants from all over the US, including a set with Lester Young and the new guitar legend Charlie Christian . During this phase, Green also recorded for labels such as Columbia and performed with sax great Buddy Tate among the many notables. During 1945, Green played with subsets of Basie's band called the Kansas City Seven and The All American Rhythm Section.

Green proceeded to record 4 sessions under his own name, Freddie Green and his Kansas City Seven which included I'm In The Mood For Love, Sugar Hips and I'll Never Be the Same. These sessions included a selection of Basie's musicians and are great examples of Freddie's ability to really swing. With the exception of a brief firing in 1950 when Basie scaled down his orchestra due to the trend toward bop ensembles, Green stayed with Basie till the end. Soon Basie's band would build back to an orchestra and eventually found new jazz talents such as Clark Terry. By 1955, Green, recording with his spin off unit called Freddie Green and his Orchestra, recorded one of his most historic sessions called Mr. Rhythm with Joe Newman, pianist Nat Pierce and bassist Milt Hinton who were among the players present at the recordings. "We've only got one tough rule in this band. And that's that cat that plays that guitar. See, everybody's got to listen to him, you know. And he ain't going to let you go noooo...where. Keeps you right straight...can't move.

Keeps it together." - Count Basie Freddy Green was a sought after session player and performer and as a result, played with numerous jazz greats - the list includes: Kenny Burrell, Benny Carter, Herb Ellis, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Sonny Stitt, Jack Teagarden, Joe Turner, Lester Young and many others. Green also demonstrated his composing talents by penning jazz standards such as Corner Pocket (Until I Met You) and Right On, plus Free Eats and Up in the Blues among the many. During the 50s and 60s, Green and Basie backed some of the planets most revered and famous vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. By the mid 60s, the Basie orchestra, although briefly experimenting with some of the contemporary sounds of the day like Beatles songs, primarily held to their strength which was swing and therefore, continued a grueling schedule of touring the entire continental US. Continuing to tour with Basie's orchestra, Green simply became indispensable and as unique and essential to Basie's band as possibly Basie himself was.

By the mid 70s, Green had already long been a legend among jazz guitar aficionados and coveted by musicians in the business. In 1975, Green recorded an LP with the great Herb Ellis (arguably one of the best “swing” soloists of his time) and along with Ray Brown, Jake Hanna and piano master Ross Tompkins, produced some exhilarating examples of modern swing which included It Had to Be You and A Smooth One. Green continued recording and playing with Basie and other jazz greats until he passed in 1987. Never eager to grant interviews or accept any of the notoriety or credit that goes with fame, Green avoided the press and just wanted to be part of the band, a component of the mechanism that produced timeless swing and big band music. Jim Hall, a great jazz guitarist in his own right, said of Green: If you pruned the tree of jazz, Freddie Green would be the only person left. If you have to listen to only one guitarist, study the way he plays rhythm with Count Basie... Freddie Green's Guitar Technique "You must remember that there were about four drummers in Basie's band.

Besides Basie, there was Freddie Green..." - Drummer Jo Jones In order to encapsulate Freddie Green's rhythm guitar approach, one first has to look at how he held the guitar which was at a steep angle in relation to his body (see picture on top of this page). The main reason to hold the guitar this way is to let the back of the guitar vibrate freely in order to enhance the volume. This odd posture also enabled Green to hit the strings at an angle that facilitated his broad, sweeping plectrum sound, using of course a pick which added more nuance to his swinging style. Green employed the very discrete and artful use of specific chord voicings which use a limited pallet of tones and strings such as the 6th, 4th and 3rd string or 5th, 3rd and 2nd strings by muting the others with a combination of his fretting hand and picking hand. A famous Freddie Green technique is the "one-note chord" technique: he generally played 2-note voicings on strings 4 and 6, but the 6th string was muted, so while it was still heard, the emphasis was on the 4th string.

This technique has the advantage that chord transitions become smoother and the chords and rhythm section sound less muddy. His sound was always subtle, or as he says it in his own words: You should never hear the guitar by itself. It should be part of the drums so it sounds like the drummer is playing chords - like the snare is in A or the hi-hat in D minor. Green perfected the use of easy-to-move chord forms mostly consisting of the root, 7th and 3rd or similar combinations and inversions that put the 5th on the bottom string. Whether he was hitting 9ths, 13ths or sus chords, Freddie kept it simple and toward the bass side of his strings in order to provide the best possible harmonic under tone to the bands big swinging sound. As far as his right hand is concerned, Freddie Green strummed all the strings, on beats 1 and 3 near the end of the neck and on beats 2 and 4 closer to the bridge. Freddie Green's historical significance and importance to the evolution of jazz guitar is as critical to the structure and stylings of jazz rhythm guitar as Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery were to solo jazz guitar.

Freddie Green's chordal orchestrations are almost a mandatory study for the jazz guitar student and professional who wants to achieve a level of maturity and versatility in the field of jazz. Freddie Green Stuff to Remember Freddie Green was "the" rhythm guitarist, nicknamed Mr. Rhythm. He was a part of Count Basie's rhythm section for about his whole life. His signature sound involved only playing the important notes of a chord and muting the other. Freddie Green almost never played single note solos. One exception was on a Benny Goodman concert. Freddie Green was part of the rhythm section, together with Basie and bass player Walter Page. After Benny Goodman's own solo, he gave way to Green to take his solo. Musician Turk van Lake described it as a "startling move". His sound is very subtle, yet legendary. He only played acoustic guitars (excluding a short period of experimentation with electric guitars). Freddie Green had a peculiar way to hold the guitar: he held it at a steep angle in relation to his body (see pic on top). More Freddie Green here: Freddie Green @ The Jazz Guitar Forum : a thread about Freddie Green's rhythm chord voicings.

FreddieGreen.Org : great website for all things Freddie Green: lessons, technique, transcriptions, photos, etc. For dessert, here's some great footage of Freddie Green playing with the Count Basie Rhythm Section: COUNT BASIE, 79, BAND LEADER AND MASTER OF SWING, DEAD - NYTimes.com COUNT BASIE, 79, BAND LEADER AND MASTER OF SWING, DEAD By JOHN S. WILSON Published: April 27, 1984 Correction Appended 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. Mr. Basie was, along with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, one of the pre-eminent bandleaders of the Big Band era in the 1930's and 40's. Mr. Basie's band, more than any other, was the epitome of swing, of jazz that moved with a built-in flowing intensity.

This stemmed primarily from the presence in the rhythm section, from 1937 to the present, of both Mr. Basie on piano and Freddie Green on guitar. As one critic put it, they ''put wheels on all four bars of the beat,'' creating a smooth rhythmic flow over which Mr. Basie's other instrumentalists rode as though they were on a streamlined cushion. Among his band's best-known numbers were ''One O'Clock Jump,'' ''Jumpin' at the Woodside,'' ''Li'l Darlin' '' and ''April in Paris.'' Directing With a Glance Mr. Basie, a short, stocky, taciturn but witty man who liked to wear a yachting cap offstage, presided over the band at the piano with apparent utmost casualness. He flicked out tightly economical, single-finger passages, directing his musicians with a glance, a lift of an eyebrow or a note hit gently but positively in passing. His piano style, which often seemed bare and simple, was an exquisitely realized condensation of the florid ''stride'' style of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson with whom Mr. Basie started. Unostentatious as Mr.

Basie appeared, his presence was a vital factor in directing his band or any group of musicians with whom he might be playing. There was a memorable concert at Town Hall several years ago when a number of musicians, including Mr. Basie, were scheduled to perform in a variety of combinations. A group that included some Basie sidemen was on stage, playing in a ragged, desultory fashion, when Mr. Basie arrived. The pianist in the combo gave up his seat to Mr. Basie who sat down, tinkled a few introductory notes, looked up at the drummer, nodded at the rest of the group and, when the combo took off, the musicians were playing as brilliantly and cleanly as they had been disheveled only a few moments before. Mr. Basie was born in Red Bank, N.J., on Aug. 21, 1904, an only child who was christened William. He started out to be a drummer. But the obvious talents of another young Red Bank drummer, Sonny Greer, who was Duke Ellington's drummer from 1919 to 1951, discouraged young Basie and he switched to piano.

While he was in his late teens, he gravitated to Harlem, where he encountered Fats Waller. ''I had dropped into the old Lincoln Theater in Harlem,'' Mr. Basie once recalled, ''and I heard a young fellow beating it out on an organ. From that time on, I was a daily customer, hanging onto every note, sitting behind him all the time. He got used to seeing me, as though I were part of the show. One day he asked me whether I played the organ. 'No,' I said, 'but I'd give my right arm to learn.' ''The next day he invited me to sit in the pit and start working the pedals. I sat on the floor watching his feet and using my hands to imitate him. Then I sat beside him and he taught me.'' Beginning in Vaudeville Through Mr. Waller, Mr. Basie got a job as accompanist with a vaudeville act called Katie Crippen and Her Kids. He became an accompanist to the blues singers Clara Smith and Maggie Jones and he worked in a 14th Street dance hall. Then he joined a touring show headed by one Gonzel White, playing piano in a four-piece band.

The Gonzel White show was stranded in Kansas City, Mo., a fateful location for Mr. Basie. For a year he played piano accompaniment to silent movies and then joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in Tulsa, Okla., a band that included, in addition to Mr. Page, a bassist, Jimmy Rushing, the blues singer, both of whom would be key members of Mr. Basie's band. When the Page band broke up in 1929, Mr. Page, Mr. Basie and Mr. Rushing all joined Bennie Moten's orchestra, the leading big band in the Southwest, which became even stronger with their presence. When Bennie Moten died in 1935, the band disintegrated and Mr. Basie organized a small band to play at the Reno Club in Kansas City that became the nucleus of the band with which he gained his initial fame. Scale for the musicians at the Reno Club, where beer was a nickel and whisky was 15 cents, was $15 a week for playing from 8 P.M. to 4 A.M., except Saturdays when it was 8 P.M. until 8 A.M. And it was a seven-day week.

From Bill to Count The band broadcast from the Reno Club on an experimental radio station. It was on one of these broadcasts that Bill Basie became Count Basie. ''One night the announcer called me to the microphone for those usual few words of introduction,'' Mr. Basie once recalled. ''He commented that Bill Basie was a rather ordinary name and that there were a couple of well-known bandleaders named Earl Hines and Duke Ellington. Then he said, 'Bill, I think I'll call you Count Basie from now on. Is that all right with you?' I thought he was kidding, shrugged my shoulders and repled, 'O.K.' Well, that was the last time I was ever introduced as Bill Basie. From then on, it was Count Basie.'' 1

Question: Which instrument was primarily played by band leader Count Basie?
Answer: Piano