Count Basie (1904 - 1984)
Count Basie cultivated one of the warmest relationships
with the blues. Not only did he employ great blues and
blues-based singers in his bands- Jimmy Rushing , Helen
Humes, Billie Holiday, and later, Big Joe Williams all sang
for Basie-but virtually all of his catalogue was woven with
bluesy rhythmic threads, and his piano playing almost
always contained strong blues notions.
Basie learned the rudiments of the blues as a youth in
New York, where he often backed blues singers in Harlem
clubs. By his early '20s, young William began playing
piano in vaudeville troupes that toured the South. He
joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1928, the hottest of
the Kansas City blues-based swing bands, after being
stranded in Kansas City and meeting Jimmy Rushing, the
band's vocalist. However, Basie soon jumped to Bennie
Moten's band, another Kansas City group with strong
blues ties. In 1935, after Moten's sudden death, Basie
started his own band with musicians from Moten's outfit.
From the beginning, Basie integrated elements of the
blues into his band's repertoire. With top-notch soloists,
such as the saxophone players Herschel Evans and
Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, trombonist Dickie
Wells; a rhythm section that included drummer Jo Jones,
bass player Walter Page, and rhythm guitarist Freddie
Green, and the blues singers out in front of the band,
Basie broadly defined the jazz-blues link.
Basie's relationship with the blues became more
apparent to his mainstream audience when Joe Williams
joined the band. In 1955, with Williams singing, the Basie
Band cut its one and only hit single, "Everyday I Have the
Blues." The song made it to number 2 on the R&B charts.
The Count continued leading his band through the 1960s
and early 1970s. In 1976 he suffered a heart attack, and
though he recovered, Basie performed only when his
health permitted. In 1984 he died of cancer. His band has
continued on under the leadership of Thad Jones and then
Frank Foster, both longtime members of the Basie
Orchestra.
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