I wanted 13 men to think and play the same way. I wanted the trumpets and trombones to bite with real guts, to be tasty and subtle. Count Basies band was the epitome of swing and his pioneering sound can still be heard in jazz orchestras all over the world. One event from the Twenties that marked him for life was being taken to hospital in September 1927 with viral meningitis. He was there for a month and felt abandoned by his fellow band members. When he came out he had to take a job as an cinema organist for silent movies but it left him with a lifelong shortage of sympathy for band members with health problems. It was in the Thirties, when he took over Bennie Motens elegant boogie-influenced band following the bandleaders sudden death, that he found his creative breakthrough with a band that included young tenor saxophone maestro Lester Young. It was in this band that a swing sound that would change jazz was born. Basie often practised with just his innovative rhythm section, an approach that drove a swing drive that wowed audiences and made him one of the pre-eminent bandleaders of the Big Band era in the Thirties and Forties. President Ronald Reagan once described Basie as among the handful of musicians that helped change the path of American music. The Basie band played at President John F Kennedys inaugural ball. Jazz historian and trumpeter John Chilton said: Count Basie had an incredibly economical and delicate piano style that enabled him to be the perfect bandleader. A simple approach reflected Basies ethos. Its the way you play that makes it. Play like you play. Play like you think, and then you got it. And how did he get his name? In 1936, when he was playing at the Reno Club in Kansas, the announcer joked that with Earl Hines and Duke Ellington doing so well, Basie needed a better stage name. Well that was the last time I was ever introduced as Bill Basie, the bandleader said. Basie was the first African-American male recipient of a Grammy Award and his music continues to inspire young jazz players.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 09:46:03 +0000
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