He became an accompanist to the blues singers Clara Smith and Maggie Jones and he worked in a 14th Street dance hall. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Learn more about merges. ''One night the announcer called me to the microphone for those usual few words of introduction,'' Mr. Basie once recalled. "[25], Young made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March 1959 with drummer Kenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate next to nothing and drank heavily. With Count Basie Make sure that the file is a photo. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Straub was inspired by Young's appearance on the 1957 CBS-TV show The Sound of Jazz, which he watched repeatedly, wondering how such a genius could have ended up "this present shambles, this human wreckage, hardly able to play at all". [28] Sonny Stitt began to incorporate elements from Lester Young's approach when he made the transition to tenor saxophone. '', Soloists were less prominent in this second edition of the Basie band although it included some of the major jazz musicians of the post-50's years, such as Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Al Grey, Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis, Frank Wess, Jimmy Forrest and the blues singer Joe Williams. A group that included some Basie sidemen was on stage, playing in a ragged, desultory fashion, when Mr. Basie arrived. Fletcher Henderson's band was playing at the Grand Terrace just before the Basie band arrived there. Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. He made a habit of leaving, working, then going home. Mr. Hammond spread the word about the Basie band, went to Kansas City to hear it and support it and brought it to the attention of booking agents. Jazz Musician. During a radio broadcast of the band's performance, the announcer wanted to give Basie's name some pizazz, keeping in mind the existence of other bandleaders like .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Duke Ellington and Earl Hines. In 1976, Mr. Basie suffered a heart attack. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Drummer of the Count Basie Orchestra Passed Away, Obituary - YouTube 0:00 / 0:36 Butch Miles Cause of Death? Like many famous people and celebrities, Count Basie kept his personal life private. 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. 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. "[12] As well as the Kansas City Sessions, his clarinet work from 193839 is documented on recordings with Basie, Billie Holiday, Basie small groups, and the organist Glenn Hardman. During the 1940's, many of the great jazz musicians of the decade passed through the band, among them Illinois Jacquet, Don Byas, Wardell Gray, Paul Quinichette, Lucky Thompson, J. J. Johnson, Paul Gonsalves and Clark Terry. [21][22] Both hold a PhD in Education, according to drummer Roy Haynes, who was interviewed as part of an attempt to create a film biography of Young. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). 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. Death rate from cardiovascular disease. People who are born with the Sun as the ruling planet are courageous, self-expressive and bold. William James Basie is part of G.I. When Bennie Moten died in 1935, the band disintegrated and Mr. Basie organized a small band to play at the Reno Club in Kansas City that became the nucleus of the band with which he gained his initial fame. [4][12], Nestico published nearly 600 numbers for school groups and many for professional big bands. Young left the Basie band in late 1940. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. In August 1944, Young appeared alongside drummer Jo Jones, trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, and fellow tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet in Gjon Mili's short film Jammin' the Blues. He started out to be a drummer. The causes of death rooted in complex mental health and substance abuse issues, such as drug overdoses and suicide, comprise a relatively small portion of deaths, but are increasing faster than most other causes. He was 67. The Count Basie Theatre in Redbank, New Jersey. At a White House reception, President Reagan said that Mr. Basie was ''among the handful of musicians that helped change the path of American music in the 30's and the 40's'' and that he had ''revolutionized jazz.''. 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. The 1994 documentary about the 1958 Esquire "A Great Day in Harlem" photograph of jazz musicians in New York, contains many remembrances of Young. Causes of deaths for children between 5 and 14. Due to changing fortunes and an altered musical landscape, Basie was forced to scale down the size of his orchestra at the start of the 1950s, but he soon made a comeback and returned to his big-band structure in 1952, recording new hits with vocalist Joe Williams and becoming an international figure. Count Basie was an extremely popular figure in the jazz world for half a century. The resulting song then became both an elegy to Young, and, implicitly, Mingus as well. He later worked for a few years with a band led by Bennie Moten, who died in 1935. Even more important was the fact that the Famous Door had national and local radio wires. Death Year: 1984, Death date: April 26, 1984, Death State: Florida, Death City: Hollywood, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Count Basie Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/count-basie, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: April 14, 2021, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. [17] Young's playing and health went into a crisis, culminating in a November 1955 hospital admission following a nervous breakdown. Within less than six months, however, Mr. Basie was back at the keyboard. Jones also continued a ride rhythm on hi-hat, while it was continuously opening and closing instead of the common practice of only striking it while it was closed. [23] On January 31, 2008, Sady Sullivan conducted an oral history interview with Dr. Lester W. Young Jr.[24] At approximately 1:10:00 he speaks about his father, listening to jazz, learning to play, and how having a famous father did not convey any favours. ''I wanted my 13-piece band to work together just like those nine pieces,'' he explained. In 1978 she was found dead on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk, [3] [8] [10] after attending a Count Basie concert. Peter Jennings (who was a jazz an) introduces a short feature on the career of Count Basie who died earlier in the day of pancreatic cancer. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. [29], Lester Young is said to have popularized use of the term "cool" to mean something fashionable. Oops, we were unable to send the email. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. The family always owned a piano, and Lilly Ann paid twenty-five cents per lesson to . I wanted those three trumpets and two trombones to bite with real guts. In 1950, when big bands were falling apart, Mr. Basie cut down to an eight-piece group but by 1952 he was leading a big band once again. Page, a bassist, Jimmy Rushing, the blues singer, both of whom would be key members of Mr. Basie's band. Count Basies mothers name is unknown at this time and his fathers name is under review. Try again. We will continue to update information on Count Basies parents. He was 79 years old and lived in Freeport, the Bahamas. Despite the presence of Lester Young and Herschel Evans in the saxophone section, Buck Clayton in the trumpet section, Jo Jones on drums, with Jimmy Rushing and, briefly, Billie Holiday as vocalists, the Basie band struggled for a year after it left Kansas City. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee College of Music. Sources:[22][23]. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. For many of the other participants, the photo shoot was the last time they saw him alive; he was the first musician in the famous photo to pass away. He was one of the greatest bandleaders of all-time, epitomizing the jazz of south-western America. recording ban by the American Federation of Musicians, Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio, The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio, Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia, "Lester 'Pres' Young in Minneapolis: The Formative Years", "Frankie Trumbauer - Biography & History", "Lester Young - Biography, Albums, & Streaming Radio - AllMusic", "Stories of Standards: Lester Leaps In by Lester Young", "Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio - Lester Young | Songs, Reviews, Credits", "Young, Lester, Jr. (2008/01/31) | Oral History", "Lester Young: 'The Prez' Still Rules At 100", "Seven Music Greats Added to ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lester_Young&oldid=1142318678, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. 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. Another milestone came with the 1956 album April in Paris, whose title track contained psyche-you-out endings that became a new band signature. The story of Count Basie is very much the story of the great jazz band that he led for close to 50 years (1935-1984), an orchestra with a distinctive . To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. His father was a student of the mellophone, and his mother was a pianist. Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. Name: Count Basie Birth Year: 1904 Birth date: August 21, 1904 Birth State: New Jersey Birth City: Red Bank Birth Country: United States Gender: Male Best Known For: One of jazz music's all-time. Courtesy of the artist. [18] In 1956, he recorded two LPs with his 1930s collaborators Teddy Wilson and Jo Jones. Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 September 3, 1985)[1] was an American jazz drummer. He made many studio recordings under Granz's supervision as well, including more trio recordings with Nat King Cole. One of jazz music's all-time greats, he won many other Grammys throughout his career and worked with a plethora of artists, including Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald. Basie ultimately earned nine Grammy Awards over the course of his career, but he made history when he won his first, in 1958, as the first African American man to receive a Grammy. Of course, I wanted to play real jazz. Many of the members, like Lester "Prez" Young, drifted into Basie's orbit around the time of Moten's death in 1935. He left the world an almost unparalleled legacy of musical greatness, having recorded or been affiliated with dozens upon dozens of albums during his lifetime. [8], During World War II, Nestico joined the United States Army and served for five years. Failed to report flower. Young's career after World War II was far more prolific and lucrative than in the pre-war years in terms of recordings made, live performances, and annual income. When we played pop tunes - and, naturally, we had to - I wanted those pops to kick! After some challenges, the Count Basie Orchestra had a slew of hits that helped to define the big-band sound of the 1930s and '40s.