The Count Basie Orchestra

During the swing period, Count Basie ranked among the leading figures in big-band direction. Aside from a short hiatus early in the 1950s, he guided a large ensemble from 1935 until his passing nearly five decades afterward, after which the group kept performing. Light, propulsive rhythm work anchored by his own piano, brisk collective playing, and ample room for individual statements defined the orchestra’s sound. Unlike Duke Ellington, Basie did not focus on original composition, nor did he pursue prominence as a featured player in the manner of Benny Goodman; instead, the band itself functioned as his primary instrument and came to represent the height of swing while shaping countless later jazz ensembles.

Both parents pursued music: Harvie Basie performed on mellophone while Lillian (Childs) Basie, a pianist, provided her son’s first instruction. Further guidance arrived from Harlem stride players, most notably Fats Waller. Basie’s earliest paid jobs involved accompanying vaudeville acts; a touring company disbanded in Kansas City in 1927, stranding him there. He remained in the city, initially playing in a silent-film theater before joining Walter Page’s Blue Devils in July 1928, where Jimmy Rushing served as vocalist. Early in 1929 Basie departed for other groups and eventually joined Bennie Moten’s organization. After Moten’s sudden death on April 2, 1935, Basie worked briefly as a soloist, then assembled a nine-piece unit first known as the Barons of Rhythm. Several former Moten sidemen entered the new group, including Walter Page on bass, Freddie Green on guitar, Jo Jones on drums, and Lester Young on tenor saxophone, with Rushing again handling vocals. The ensemble secured a steady booking at Kansas City’s Reno Club and began radio broadcasts that prompted an announcer to bestow the title “Count” on the pianist.

A radio performance caught the attention of critic and producer John Hammond, who promoted Basie to bookers and labels. Consequently the band left Kansas City in autumn 1936 for an engagement at Chicago’s Grand Terrace, followed by a Buffalo date and then an appearance at New York’s Roseland Ballroom in December. Its first recordings appeared on Decca in January 1937. After personnel adjustments and expansion, the orchestra revisited Chicago and later played the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Boston. Its September 1937 recording of “One O’Clock Jump” became the first chart entry; the piece served as the band’s signature theme and later received Grammy Hall of Fame recognition.

An extended 1938 residency at New York’s Famous Door solidified the group’s popularity. “Stop Beatin’ Round the Mulberry Bush,” featuring Rushing, reached the Top Ten that fall. Basie spent the first half of 1939 in Chicago, switching from Decca to Columbia, before traveling to the West Coast in the autumn. Extensive touring marked the early 1940s, though U.S. entry into World War II in December 1941 and the recording ban beginning August 1942 curtailed movement. While on the coast the band appeared in five 1943 films—Hit Parade of 1943, Reveille with Beverly, Stage Door Canteen, Top Man, and Crazy House—and scored multiple pop and R&B Top Ten successes: “I Didn’t Know About You” (pop, winter 1945), “Red Bank Blues” (R&B, winter 1945), “Rusty Dusty Blues” (R&B, spring 1945), “Jimmy’s Blues” (pop and R&B, summer/fall 1945), and “Blue Skies” (pop, summer 1946). After moving to RCA Victor, “Open the Door, Richard!” topped the charts in February 1947, followed later that year by three additional Top Ten pop singles: “Free Eats,” “One O’Clock Boogie,” and “I Ain’t Mad at You (You Ain’t Mad at Me).”

Declining interest in large ensembles at the decade’s end prompted Basie to disband the orchestra and work with smaller units for several years. Renewed touring prospects allowed him to reassemble a big band in 1952. The first European excursion occurred in Scandinavia in 1954, after which international travel became routine. Joe Williams joined as vocalist late that year. The 1955 Clef album Count Basie Swings – Joe Williams Sings restored commercial standing, propelled especially by “Every Day (I Have the Blues),” which reached the R&B Top Five and earned Grammy Hall of Fame status. An instrumental treatment of “April in Paris” entered the pop Top 40 and R&B Top Ten in early 1956 and likewise entered the Grammy Hall of Fame. Albert Murray, co-author of Basie’s autobiography Good Morning Blues, termed this lineup the “new testament” edition; Williams stayed until 1960, yet the orchestra maintained its success.

At the inaugural Grammy ceremony, Basie received the 1958 awards for Best Performance by a Dance Band and Best Jazz Performance, Group, for the Roulette LP Basie. Breakfast Dance and Barbecue earned a dance-band nomination for 1959; Dance with Basie won the category in 1960, while The Count Basie Story garnered nominations for Best Performance by an Orchestra and Best Jazz Performance, Large Group. Further jazz-performance nominations arrived for Basie at Birdland in 1961 and The Legend in 1962. Commercial impact remained modest, leading Basie to sign with Frank Sinatra’s Reprise label in 1962. Sinatra-Basie reached the Top Five in early 1963; This Time by Basie! Hits of the 50’s and 60’s climbed to the Top 20 and captured the 1963 Grammy for Best Performance by an Orchestra for Dancing.

A sequence of vocalist-centered albums followed through the remainder of the 1960s, a phase often criticized by jazz enthusiasts: Ella Fitzgerald (Ella and Basie!, 1963), Sinatra again (the Top 20 It Might as Well Be Swing, 1964), Sammy Davis, Jr. (Our Shining Hour, 1965), the Mills Brothers (The Board of Directors, 1968), and Jackie Wilson (Manufacturers of Soul, 1968). Broadway Basie’s … Way, a collection of show tunes, also charted in 1966.

By decade’s end Basie had returned to a stronger jazz orientation. Standing Ovation received a 1969 Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Large Group or Soloist with Large Group (Eight or More). In 1970, with Oliver Nelson serving as arranger and conductor, he recorded the experimental Afrique, which earned a 1971 nomination for Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band. Festival appearances and cruise-ship engagements dominated the schedule. After several brief label affiliations, Basie joined Pablo Records in the early 1970s and remained there for the rest of his career. Pablo documented him across varied contexts, yielding further acclaimed releases: Basie Jam earned a 1975 nomination for Best Jazz Performance by a Group; Basie and Zoot received a nomination in the same category in 1976 and won for Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist; Prime Time captured the 1977 award for Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band; and The Gifted Ones, a collaboration with Dizzy Gillespie, was nominated in 1979 for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Group. Subsequent entries in the Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Big Band category brought Grammys in 1980 for On the Road and in 1982 for Warm Breeze, a nomination for Farmer’s Market Barbecue in 1983, and a final 1984 win—his ninth—for 88 Basie Street.

Basie’s health declined over his final eight years. A 1976 heart attack sidelined him for months; another hospitalization occurred in 1981, after which he appeared onstage in an electric wheelchair. He died of cancer at age 79.

Fellow musicians held Basie in equal esteem with audiences, and his long career displayed striking steadiness long after swing had become a historical style. Following his death the orchestra continued as one of the more active ghost bands, directed successively by Thad Jones, Frank Foster, and Grover Mitchell. The extensive discography spans every major label and numerous smaller ones.