Count Basie - He Made Music Swing Like Cutting Butter

https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/ ^ | 26th April, 2023, Australian time | Ozguy1945

[Ozguy1945]

In 1985 Ronald Reagan awarded Count Basie the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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"I think the band can really swing," Basie had said, " when it swings easy, when it can just play along like you are cutting butter."

"If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune."

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God Bless Count Basie

[dynachrome]

Count Basie in Blazing Saddles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzKUVsHL7ac

[cotton1706]

I love Count Basie. He took over Bennie Moten’s band when Moten died tragically in a botched tonsillectomy.

The Kansas City sound was amazing!

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Got to see him about a year before he passed. GREAT concert.

Played several of his arrangements in jazz bands.

Always loved his signature endings on piano.

[Fiji Hill]

Count Basie's first hit, from the fall of 1937:

The One O'Clock Jump

[dfwgator]

[Vigilanteman]

Your average rapper has never heard of him. Too much talent for today’s stage.

[circlecity]

The Benny Goodman version is better.

[Ozguy1945]

He could play one note with perfect timing.

So cool!

[Ozguy1945]

He could play one note with perfect timing and just make it sit there like TS Eliot’s still point of the turning world while everything else went on around him.

[The Great RJ]

Count Basie and his orchestra played for my college Spring Prom in 1970. A very memorable evening with great music.

[A Navy Vet]

Iv'e tried to get into swing and jazz, but can't deal with progressive jazz that never resolves. However, I used to listen to Wes Montgomery in my youth. His styling was more melodic and that's what I favor. Jimmie Smith also worked for me. Anyone ever hear of Gabor Szabo? He fused jazz, pop, rock, with a subtle Hungarian tone.

Also, a blues band called, Paul Butterfield Blues Band had a long jazz/rock/blues tune called, "East West". It is killer and it is the entire back side of the "East West" album.