Count Basie

August 21st, 1904, one of the world’s greatest jazz musicians was born. This great musician was known as William Count Basie. He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, where he became a pianist and a player of vaudeville based entertainment. Basie ultimately formed his own big band that had many hits, for example: “Blue Skies” and “One O’Clock Jump.” Basie’s band and music helped to define the ‘swing’ era. He became the first African American male to receive a Grammy Award. Throughout his years he’d worked with a variety of different artists and had won countless other Grammys. Unfortunately, his life came to an end in Florida on April 26th, 1984. To begin with, Count Basie was born to Harvey Lee, a mellophonist and Lillian Basie, a pianist…

Count Basie, an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer, was born on August 21, 1904, in Red Bank, New Jersey as William Basie. He is considered one of the best bandleaders of all time and changed the entire jazz landscape. He also shaped the mid 20th century pop music and earned the title “King of Swing”. Both of his parents, Harvey and Lillian Basie, were musicians. He started piano at a very early age with his mother giving him his first lessons and played the drums in his…

William “Count” Basie was a pianist and bandleader who is still viewed today as “an American institution that personifies the grandeur and excellence of jazz” (Bluenote). Lester Young brought a new approach to jazz while performing in the big band. He was known for his soft and light tone, bringing a new and fresh swing feeling to jazz alongside his melodic improvisations. Young not only separated himself from several other notable musicians in the way he held his saxophone but through his…

of Akron (OH), and a Masters of Music concentrating in Jazz Composition from DePaul University in Chicago (IL). He currently works as an Artist Advisor at the Denis Wick/Vandoren Musician’s Advisory Studio in downtown Chicago, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Jazz Orchestra as their Director of Educational Programs. Ryan also chairs the mentoring program of the Jazz Education Network. Doug Beach formed the publishing company bearing his name in 1975. As Director of Jazz…

people had been listening,” (00:48:50-00:49:01). Swing became such an influential aspect towards the younger generation that it was adopted as a part of the youth’s lifestyle. The dances associated with Swing portrayed the music as dangerous because of where the form originated from and made young adults act in immoral ways that it causes harm to themselves. For example, the video shows a clip of a psychiatrist explaining how toxic Swing can be towards people, “Swing music acts as a narcotic and…

Swing music originated by musicians modifying forms of “jazz", so that by the 1930’s a new form of music emerged called “swing”. Swing is characterized by very large bands, fixed, usually written arrangements, and solos by individual musicians in turn. Swing bands typically used an upright or double bass instead of a tuba and played repeated riffs to give the music a propulsive rhythmic force. Swing combined harmonic sophistication with danceable rhythms and compelling individual…

himself how to play, practicing for most hours of each day, and dropping out of school at fifteen to further immerse himself in Kansas City jazz, all while maintaining his mother’s and Rebecca Ruffing’s support, whom he married the same year (Megill 157). Parker’s musical career started in 1935, when he started playing full-time in Kansas City, wherever he could find the opportunity, in 1936, he had enough money to buy a new alto-saxophone and he attended jam sessions featuring famous jazz…

The book begins with a modernist architect, Le Corbusier, visiting New York City. Le Corbusier marveled both the city and the musical culture of African-Americans. He believed, “jazz is an event representing the forces of today” (p. 3). The forces of today are the industrialization and mass production of American society. He even goes on to state that American society is a “machine for living” (p. 3). Le Corbusier believed jazz reflected and contained chaotic yet continuous rhythmic flow that…

Count Basie was a swing big band leader who began playing piano in the 1920s. He was born in New Jersey, and took stylistic influences from New York musicians such as Fats Waller (Yanow 155). He rose to prominence as a part of the Bennie Moten Orchestra, and then led his own orchestra after Moten’s death in 1935 (Yanow 155). As a bandleader, Count Basie was able to develop his own innovative style that significantly influenced the way jazz developed past the 1940s. His band was one of the top…

created in 1973, there were numerous counts of workers killed while working in trenches. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created forty-three years ago and has helped reduce the deaths of workers while at their job. Previous to OSHA being created, deaths totaled approximately 14,000 workers every year. Once OSHA was founded…