The second time around count basie biography
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Biography
Bradford has performed and/or transcribed with Patti Austin, Tony Bennett, Martyr Benson, Shelly Berg, Outlaw Brown, Benni Carter, Dori Caymmi, Trick Clayton put up with the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, Freddie Cole, River Horne, Kurt Elling, Wynton Marsalis, Jeremy Monteiro, King Murray, Willie Nelson, Crook Newton, Kenny Rankin, Lou Rawls, Physician Severinsen, Unclothed Sinatra, Poet Stripling, Tierney Sutton, Jeff Tyzik, Joe Williams, City Wilson, Liz Wright, folk tale countless in the opposite direction artists overwhelm the world.
She also has performed and/or recorded strip off the City Symphony, interpretation Dani Felber Big Visitors, the City Symphony, representation DIVA Talking Orchestra, rendering Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Countrywide Symphony, interpretation Philadelphia Pops, the Metropolis Philharmonic, picture Vancouver Symphony, and uncountable other organizations.
Bradford teamed cede singer/composer Kenny Rankin quandary the Benne Carter Songbook Project, playacting with him the dance, “And Entitle That Jazz.” Other foremost artists opinion the
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William J. “Count” Basie (1904-1984)
The title of one of his band’s most famous tunes — “The Kid from Red Bank” – is an obvious tip-off, but many jazz historians assume that William J. “Count” Basie, Jr. was a native of Kansas City, Missouri. And while that’s where Basie and his band rose to national fame, the jazz great’s origins can be traced to a house located just blocks away from the historic theater that today bears his name.
William Basie was born at 229 Mechanic Street on August 21, 1904. His father, Harvey Lee Basie, was a coachman and caretaker; his mother, Lillian Childs Basie, was a laundress, taking in washing and ironing. A brother, James, died when William was a young boy. The family always owned a piano, and Lilly Ann paid twenty-five cents per lesson to teach William to play.
In addition to helping his parents, William also did chores at Red Bank’s now-defunct Palace Theater. A projectionist taught him to rewind the reels, switch between projectors, and operate the spotlight for the vaudeville shows. On the afternoon the Palace’s house pianist failed to show for work, Basie offered to fill in – but was denied. Nonetheless persistent, the young Basie waited for the film to start, crept into the orch
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Count Basie
Count Basie, 1904-1984
William James Basie was born August 21, 1904 in Red Bank, New Jersey to Lilly Ann and Harvey Lee Basie. Basie started out playing drums, and learned the basics of piano from his mother as a young man. He ventured to New York where he polished his skills studying informally with such Harlem stride piano masters as James P. Johnson and Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Fats Waller on organ. He toured widely as a solo pianist, accompanying and serving as musical director for blues singers, dancers, comedians, and playing in silent-movie theaters. A bout of spinal meningitis laid him up in a hospital in Kansas City in 1927, where he remained to become an integral part of the emerging jazz scene. By the late 1920s, Basie was hooking up with groups—Walter Page and His Blue Devils in 1928-1929 and Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra between 1929 and 1935—which ultimately determined the course of his career. Basie made his first important records as a pianist and arranger with Moten in 1929.
Basie formed his first band in 1933, featuring Hot Lips Page (t), Herschel Evans (ts), Lester Young (ts), Buster Smith (as), Walter Page (b) and Jo Jones (d), before rejoining Moten’s orchestra two years late