To say that big bands were essentially the domain of composers and arrangers until the arrival of the Count Basie Orchestra in New York in 1936 would be an exaggeration, for there were charismatic ...

Known as “Ol’ Blue Eyes” and “The Chairman of the Board,” he rose from his Italian-American roots in Hoboken, New Jersey ... with Count Basie and his orchestra. The song, with its ...

Bill Basie studied music with his mother as a child and played piano in early childhood. He picked up the basics of early ragtime from some of the great Harlem pianists and studied organ informally ...