Life And Impact Of The Count
...of the music. When it came to the big band and swing jazz era, that man was the Count, whose simple and effortless approach to making music is exhibited by the title quote. William Basie was born on August 21, 1904 in Red Bank, New Jersey, where a local theater was dedicated to him soon after his passing in 1984. His parents, Harvey and Lilly, had another son, James, who died when William was still a young boy. For twenty-five cents per lesson, William took piano lessons on the piano that the family had always owned. After helping out with the movies and vaudeville shows at one of the local theaters, William secretly filled in for the house piano player during one show.
Basie's first musical passion, however, was not the piano. He played the drums until he learned of a more talented young drummer who he did not want to compete with named Sonny Greer, who lived in a nearby town and would later go on to great success as would Basie. William and Sonny teamed up to win a music competition years later. After leaving high school in his junior year, Basie moved between Red Bank and Asbury Park, where he and several friends had pretty regular gigs. However, his time playing there ended when he moved to Harlem in 1924. It was there in New York that William saw great stride pianists such as James P. Johnson, Willie "The Lion" Smith, and Fats Waller, who was one of Basie's most important musical influences and mentors. Soon after arriving in New York, Basie was already playing as an accompanying pianist for various vaudeville shows.
The Count found himself in Kansas City in 1927, accompanying silent films on the organ until he joined Walter Page's Blue Devils. Although he spent less than two years with Page's group, every member of the Blue Devils would eventually be featured in Basie's big band. After playing with various local bands, Basie worked his...
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