Featured In
ALBUMCount Basie Meets Jimmy RushingCount Basie & Jimmy Rushing
Albums by Count Basie
ALBUMBig Bands Are Back!Count Basie, Woody Herman & Lionel Hampton
ALBUMAt the PianoCount Basie
ALBUMThe Songs of Bessie Smith / It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That SwingDuke Ellington, Teresa Brewer, Count Basie & Thad Jones
ALBUMTimeless: Count BasieCount Basie
ALBUMCount Basie, Vol. 2 (1954)Count Basie
ALBUMThe Jubilee Shows No. 55 & No. 200Bobby Sherwood, Count Basie & Teddy Wilson
ALBUMBasie/Eckstine IncBilly Eckstine & Count Basie
ALBUMBasie In LondonCount Basie
ALBUMCount Basie and FriendsCount Basie
ALBUMCount on the CoastCount Basie
Count Basie's Popular Music Videos
Blues in Frankie’s flat
Count Basie
Didn't You (feat. Talib Kweli) [Lyric Video]
Count Basie & Lettuce
Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You
Count Basie
Whirly Bird
Count Basie
Lil’ Darlin’
Count Basie
Old Man River
Count Basie, Snooky Young, Frank Wess, Joe Williams, Joe Newman, Eddie Jones, Freddie Green, Sonny Payne & Morgan Lewis
Midnight Sun Never Sets
Count Basie, Snooky Young, Frank Wess, Joe Williams, Joe Newman, Eddie Jones, Freddie Green, Sonny Payne & Morgan Lewis
The Midgets
Count Basie
How High the Moon
Count Basie
H.R.H.
Count Basie
Artist Playlists
Count Basie Essentials
Feel the beat of this founding father of swing.
Count Basie: Deep Cuts
Joyously hip singles and suave meetings with jazz vocalists.
Artist Biography
Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1904, pianist and bandleader William James “Count” Basie was a titan of the big band era. He moved to Harlem in the early 1920s, beginning a musical education that included stints in bands led by Walter Page and Bennie Moten. When the latter died in 1935, Basie took over the group, then billed as the Barons of Rhythm. The following year the group relocated to Chicago, forging a tough sound in which contrapuntal riffs only reinforced their rhythmic ferocity. Under Basie’s guidance the jazz orchestra was transformed into a swing machine fueled by a rhythm section that included drummer Sonny Greer and guitarist Freddie Green and a horn section that over the years boasted Lester Young, Buck Clayton, and Harry “Sweets” Edison. The group reinforced its blues bona fides with singer Jimmy Rushing. They recorded influential sides for Brunswick and Decca between 1937 and 1939, and Columbia between 1936 and 1950. Basie put together an even sleeker, higher-octane version of his orchestra in 1952, who toured the world, making records—including some classics with Frank Sinatra—and carrying on as swing exemplars even after his death in 1984.
Hometown
Red Bank, NJ, United States
Genre
Jazz