BASIE, COUNT

born Aug. 21, 1904, Red Bank, N.J., U.S. died April 26, 1984, Hollywood, Fla. Count Basie, 1969. byname of William Basie American pianist and composer and one of the outstanding organizers of big bands in jazz history. Basie studied music with his mother and was later influenced by the Harlem pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, receiving informal tutelage on the organ from the latter. He began his professional career as an accompanist on the vaudeville circuit. Stranded in Kansas City, Mo., in 1927, Basie remained there and eventually (in 1935) assumed the leadership of a nine-piece band, composed of former members of the Walter Page and Bennie Moten orchestras. One night, while the band was broadcasting on a short-wave radio station in Kansas City, the announcer dubbed him Count Basie to compete with such other bandleaders as Duke Ellington. The jazz critic John Hammond heard the broadcasts in New York City and promptly launched the band on its career in Chicago. Though rooted in the riff style of the 1930s swing-era bands, the Basie band included soloists who reflected the styles of their own periods. In this way the band was a springboard for tenor saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, trumpeter-composer Thad Jones, and others. Many musicians considered Basie's to be the major big band in jazz history, a model for ensemble rhythmic conception and tonal balance. During the late 1930s the accompanying unit for the band (pianist Basie, rhythm guitarist Freddie Green, bassist Walter Page, and drummer Jo Jones) was unique in its lightness, precision, and relaxation, becoming the precursor for modern jazz accompanying styles. Basie's syncopated and spare but exquisitely timed chording, commonly termed comping, became the model for what was expected from combo pianists in their improvised accompaniments for the next 30 years of jazz. Despite its influence on modern piano styles, Basie's solo technique had roots in the pre-swing-era style of Fats Waller, and Basie continued to display such a stride style in performances during the early 1980s. Arrangements for the early Basie band were informally worked out and memorized. His hits One O'Clock Jump and Jumpin' at the Woodside were done this way. Arrangements used in the later years maintained a style developed for his 1950s bands by Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkins. Basie's autobiography, Good Morning Blues, written with Albert Murray, was published in 1985. Additional reading Chris Sheridan (compiler), Count Basie: A Bio-Discography (1986).