WBGO Celebrates Basie Centennial

A Day of Special Broadcasts, August 21

Red Bank native William "Count" Basie (1904-1984), who would have turned 100 years old this year, built a prolific career as a big band leader/pianist. With his Kansas City-based Count Basie Orchestra, he incorporated the blues form into his most famous swing tunes "One O' Clock Jump," "Jumpin' at the Woodside," and "Blues in Hoss Flat." Basie permanently transformed the direction of jazz, popularizing both the piano accompaniment style of comping (playing chords to provide melodic support to a soloist), and the use of call-and-response riffs between sections. Basie helped to launch the careers of renowned tenor saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Thad Jones, bassist Walter Page, and drummer Jo Jones, amongst so many others.

WBGO will put out a special Jazzamatazz publication for kids this summer on Count Basie.

Here is what you'll be hearing on WBGO...

• August 15 and 18 - The Count Basie Orchestra on JazzSet
• August 16 through August 21 - WBGO will broadcast special two-minute segments in honor of Basie's centennial. Every hour, actor Avery Brooks will narrate an historic moment about the life of the great Count Basie.
• Saturday, August 21:
  • 2 pm - Trumpeter Jon Faddis and his All-Stars, with special guests Benny Powell and Frank Foster, swing through some of Basie's classic pieces.
  • 4 pm - Count Basie, The Man and His Music: A Jazz Profiles Special
  • 6 pm - The One O'Clock Jump, live from Red Bank, New Jersey, Basie's home. Jon Faddis will lead another stellar group as he premiers a new piece commissioned in honor of Basie's one hundredth birthday. The concert is called the One O'Clock Jump after a Verve recording Basie made in 1937 by the same name.
• Aug. 22 - Early Basie on Jazz from the Archives