“It would
have seemed incredible in 1936 that twenty-odd years later
there should be only two big bands in regular existence,”
Stanley Dance wrote in The World of Count Basie. “Had
that possibility been entertained, it would have seemed reasonable
enough that one should be Duke Ellington’s. But that
the other should be Count Basie’s—that, too, would
have seemed incredible.”
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From
the time Count Basie’s “Old Testament Band”
surged out of Kansas City in 1936 and brought his irrepressible
mixture of blues and riff-based head arrangements to New York
until his death in 1984, Basie and the bands he led were a
touchstone of jazz history. We proudly celebrate Red Bank
New Jersey’s most famous musical son during his centennial
year of 2004. |
Unlike our three previous entries in the
Jazz Greats Digital Exhibits (Benny Carter, Mary Lou Williams
and Fats Waller, whose centennial is also celebrated in 2004)
this one does not emerge from a specific collection at the
Institute of Jazz Studies. The many images used came in part
from IJS’s main files, but also from other sources generously
permitting reproduction. Special thanks goes to Frank Driggs of
the vaunted archives which bears his name and to Getty Images
for permitting the Institute of Jazz Studies to reproduce
their images here. In both cases, these images helped to fill
in crucial visual gaps of the Basie story.
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In addition to panels of historic images,
the work of many individual photographers yields a photojournalistic
account of Basie and his illustrious sidemen that conveys
the seriousness of purpose with which Basie approached his
craft and the joy he imparted to his audiences. An early photo
essay of the band at the Famous Door in 1938 captures the
band hitting its stride at the 52nd Street club where Basie
made his breakthrough New York appearance. A 1944 series shows
Basie lounging in the Manhattan offices of Columbia Records
with his great tenor saxophonist Lester Young, and includes
tender glimpses of Basie’s wife Catherine and their
infant daughter Diana.
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Chuck Stewart, a Teaneck, New Jersey resident
whose photographs can also be seen on the Mary Lou Williams
website, returns with photographs of the band and Joe Williams
recording for Roulette Records in the fall of 1957, while
Canadian photographer Paul Hoeffler’s work shows the
band during its July appearance at the same year’s Newport
Jazz Festival. The famed bassist and photographer Milt Hinton,
whose work is handled by David Berger and Holly Maxson of
the Milton J. Hinton Photograph Collection, captures Basie
amid other jazz giants at the historic CBS broadcast The Sound
of Jazz in December of that same productive year. Tantalizing
images by an unidentified photographer from the 1960s reveals
the unlikely pairing of Count Basie and John Coltrane, with
legendary Voice of America broadcaster Willis Conover looking
on.
The work of the late New York photographer Nancy Miller Elliott, who turned her lenses on Basie and other veterans from the band and its tradition, is a tribute to these men and women and the photographer who created the images. A final photo essay by IJS archivist Tad Hershorn features Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald in rehearsal and concert in San Antonio.
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We are grateful cultural historian and novelist Albert Murray
to whom Count Basie told his 1985 autobiography Good Morning
Blues for characteristic and spirited opening statement. This site also benefits from the participation of Peabody
Award-winning radio producer Jim Luce and his Count Basie Centennial Radio Project, heard on National Public Radio affiliates.
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The Jazz Greats Digital Exhibits are co-produced by the Institute
of Jazz Studies and the Dana Library Media and Digital Services,
both located in the Dana Library on the Newark Campus of Rutgers,
the State University of New Jersey. Tad Hershorn oversaw work
on the project. Institute Director Dan Morgenstern wrote portions
of the historical text and provided editorial direction, as
did Associate Director Edward Berger. Computer engineering
major Edwin Vitery served as web master, as he did for the
Fats Waller website. His formidable technical skills and sense
of design combined text, images and music to bring the Basie
story to life.
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© Copyright 2004, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University Libraries
Basie website maintained by the Media
Associate
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