He was sometimes known as Papa Jo Jones to distinguish him from younger drummer Philly Joe Jones. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Count Basie I found on Findagrave.com. As one critic put it, they ''put wheels on all four bars of the beat,'' creating a smooth rhythmic flow over which Mr. Basie's other instrumentalists rode as though they were on a streamlined cushion. In December 1943, Young returned to the Basie fold for a 10-month stint, cut short by his being drafted into the army during World War II. While he never abandoned the cane reed, he used the plastic reed a significant share of the time from 1943 until the end of his life. Omissions? [14] Based in Ft. McClellan, Alabama, Young was found with marijuana and alcohol among his possessions. It was a loose and swinging band, built around distinctively individualistic solos by Lester Young, Herschel Evans, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Harry Edison, Dickie Wells, Vic Dickenson and, primarily, Mr. Basie himself. Well, that was the last time I was ever introduced as Bill Basie. Meanwhile, keep on listening and tapping your feet. (Count Basie), Well, if you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night! (Count Basie), Copyright 2023 /The Celebrity Deaths.com/All Rights Reserved. [30] Another slang term he is rumoured to have popularized was the term "bread" for money. Unostentatious as Mr. Basie appeared, his presence was a vital factor in directing his band or any group of musicians with whom he might be playing. JUMP TO: Count Basies biography, facts, family, personal life, zodiac, videos and related celebs. During his career, Nestico composed, arranged, or conducted albums for musicians and singers including Quincy Jones, Phil Collins, Barbra Streisand, Michael Buble, Natalie Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Toni Tennille, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Suffering from diabetes and chronic arthritis during his later years, Basie continued to front his big band until a month before his death in 1984. Although they were recorded in New York (in 1938, with a reunion in 1944), they are named after the group, the Kansas City Seven, and comprised Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, Basie, Young, Freddie Green, Rodney Richardson, and Jo Jones. See the article in its original context from. With Count Basie He began working as an arranger for Count Basie in 1967, and wrote and arranged all the music for Basie's 1968 LP Basie Straight Ahead. Mr. Alexander agreed to lend the club $2,500 to install an air-conditioner if it would book the Basie band. COUNT BASIE, 79, BAND LEADER AND MASTER OF SWING, DEAD, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/27/arts/count-basie-79-band-leader-and-master-of-swing-dead.html. The initials "G.I." Among his band's best-known numbers were ''One O'Clock Jump,'' ''Jumpin' at the Woodside,'' ''Li'l Darlin' '' and ''April in Paris.''. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Page, Mr. Basie and Mr. Rushing all joined Bennie Moten's orchestra, the leading big band in the Southwest, which became even stronger with their presence. During his last years, he had difficulty walking and rode out on the stage on a motorized wheelchair which he sometimes drove with joyful abandon. [12] The Airmen of Note, the premier jazz ensemble of the USAF, sponsor an annual competition, the "Sammy Nestico Award" for composers and arrangers of big band music, named in his honor. The band broadcast from the Reno Club on an experimental radio station. He worked as an orchestrator and arranger for the film The Color Purple. ). While with Basie, Young made small-group recordings for Milt Gabler's Commodore Records, The Kansas City Sessions. Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Blues" (with D.B. Unlike many white musicians, who were placed in band outfits such as the ones led by Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw, Young was assigned to the regular army where he was not allowed to play his saxophone. Their famously empathetic classic recordings with Teddy Wilson date from this era. Count Basie, byname of William Basie, (born August 21, 1904, Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.died April 26, 1984, Hollywood, Florida), American jazz musician noted for his spare, economical piano style and for his leadership of influential and widely heralded big bands. Zodiac Sign: Count Basie was a Leo. He was known for being a Pianist. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Count Basie. Here is all you want to know, and more! Then, as far as this guy Ellington is concerned, you can never tell what he's going to do. During childhood, Sammy Americanized his name to Samuel Louis Nestico. Count Basie was born in 1900s. These performances were generally well attended by other drummers such as Max Roach and Roy Haynes. Sources:[22][23]. . [28] Sonny Stitt began to incorporate elements from Lester Young's approach when he made the transition to tenor saxophone. She gave Lester the nickname "Prez" after President Franklin Roosevelt, the "greatest man around" in Billie's mind. Then he joined a touring show headed by one Gonzel White, playing piano in a four-piece band. He rose to fame after taking over Bennie Moten's band in 1935. It was a reunion with Holiday, with whom he had lost contact over the years. (William) Count Basie (1904-1984) was an extremely popular figure in the jazz world for half a century. Fresh out of Kansas City, the Basie band took Manhattan by storm in 1937. Here is all you want to know, and more! From then on, it was Count Basie.''. He went on to join Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1928, which he would see as a pivotal moment in his career, being introduced to the big-band sound for the first time. As orchestrator, he worked on nearly seventy television programs, including Mission: Impossible,[11] Mannix, M*A*S*H,[13] Charlie's Angels,[14] and The Mod Squad. The Basie orchestra had several hit recordings during the late 1930s and early 40s, among them Jumpin at the Woodside, Every Tub, Lester Leaps In, Super Chief, Taxi War Dance, Miss Thing, Shorty George, and One OClock Jump, the bands biggest hit and theme song. ''One night the announcer called me to the microphone for those usual few words of introduction,'' Mr. Basie once recalled. Recordings made during this and subsequent periods suggest Young was beginning to make much greater use of a plastic reed, which tended to give his playing a somewhat heavier, breathier tone (although still quite smooth compared to that of many other players). Finally, Willard Alexander, a booking agent, in an effort to get the band on 52d Street, then the jazz center of New York, made a deal with the Famous Door, a shoebox of a room, 25 feet wide and about 50 feet long, which was having trouble doing business in the summer because it had no air-conditioning. Performance & security by Cloudflare. [5] He grew up in a musical family. The Basie band kept working into the 1970s, with the Count in his yachting cap that he had adopted in the 1960s, but his age and changing fashion eventually caught up with him. Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, Joe Williams, Oscar Peterson and Quincy Jones were among the stars to pay tribute. He was a big force in music.''. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Sorry! [3], For the fictional television character, see, Last edited on 26 February 2023, at 08:43, The Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Pete Brown, Jo Jones All Stars at Newport, Mae Barnes, Jo Jones, Buck Clayton, Ray Bryant, The Oscar Peterson Trio with Sonny Stitt, Roy Eldridge and Jo Jones at Newport, Sonny Stitt Plays Arrangements from the Pen of Quincy Jones, Jazz Icons: Coleman Hawkins-Live in 62 & 64, "Book Review: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones", "Jo Jones, 73, A Jazz Drummer Influential in Swing Era, Dies", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jo_Jones&oldid=1141690806, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 08:43. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Basie was born William James Basie (with some sources listing his middle name as "Allen") on August 21, 1904, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. She was also in physical decline, near the end of her career, yet they both gave moving performances. He thought he could never outmatch Greers talent, so he took up piano at 15. Basie studied music with his mother and was later influenced by the Harlem pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, receiving . "[27] Holiday died four months later on July 17, 1959 at age 44. One day he asked me whether I played the organ. Try again later. Basie began his career as a stride pianist, reflecting the influence of Johnson and Waller, but the style most associated with him was characterized by spareness and precision. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Even in Harlem, it puzzled the aware audiences at the Savoy Ballroom. "Ivey-Divey" was one of Lester Young's common eccentric phrases. A group that included some Basie sidemen was on stage, playing in a ragged, desultory fashion, when Mr. Basie arrived. His autobiography (as told to Albert Murray), entitled Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones and based on conversations between Jones and novelist Murray from 1977 to before Jones' death in 1985, was posthumously published in 2011 by the University of Minnesota Press.[2]. In his hometown of Red Bank, there is now a Count Basie Theatre and a Count Basie Field. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Chinese Zodiac: Count Basie was born in the Year of the Rabbit. [35], On 17 March 2003, Young was added to the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame, along with Sidney Bechet, Al Cohn, Nat "King" Cole, Peggy Lee and Teddy Wilson. But the obvious talents of another young Red Bank drummer, Sonny Greer, who was Duke Ellington's drummer from 1919 to 1951, discouraged young Basie and he switched to piano. Basie then formed the Barons of Rhythm with some of his bandmates from Moten's group, including saxophonist Lester Young. Like many famous people and celebrities, Count Basie kept his personal life private. Another cause for the thickening of his tone around this time was a change in saxophone mouthpiece from a metal Otto Link to an ebonite Brilhart. But I wanted that bite to be just as tasty and subtle as if it were the three brass I used to use. His father was a student of the mellophone, and his mother was a pianist. Fletcher Henderson's band was playing at the Grand Terrace just before the Basie band arrived there.
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