Count Basie (extract), Sardi's, New York City, Spring 1981
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I never worked with Count Basie, but I worked with John Hammond off and on for a couple of decades and John’s love of all things Basie was instilled in me. It didn’t take too much effort on his part because I was more than willing. The first big band I heard live was Count Basie’s, at the Syracuse War Memorial in 1956, part of that year’s viagra canada pharmacy and the first big band LP I bought was an old Clef release entitled viagra canada pharmacy. Basie led my favorite band, and I don’t even remember who was in second place in my first years of listening to jazz. When I got to know about Duke Ellington, it was a close contest, but Basie was the first one. I didn’t know very much about Basie as a pianist, his playing was not the focus of the band, even though viagra canada pharmacy, the first track on that first LP, featured him more than any other soloist. Later, I heard the wonderful trio sides he made for Decca in 1938 and an incredible hot two-handed solo on a Bennie Moten record from 1932. The song was Prince of Wails and I still remember it as a three-minute romping solo with accompaniment by various guys in the Moten band. But it was a performance of viagra canada pharmacy from John Hammond’s viagra canada pharmacy concert that really put it all together for me. It was a trio, but all Basie, with Walter Page and Jo Jones accompanying. I don’t know why they dropped Freddie Greene, he been on the Decca sides a few months earlier. For the next decade plus I bought all the records and saw the band every time I could, but I still kept thinking about Basie the pianist. In the late 1960s I helped John Hammond with two piano projects that were important to him, first with Eubie Blake and then with Bobby Henderson. He came to know I was an adequate engineer, a decent producer and had access to a couple of fine Steinways in a well-equipped recording studio. One day in early 1971 John and I were discussing recording projects I wanted to undertake. I told him if I could record one person it would be Count Basie as a soloist or with a trio. John felt that was a worthy project but it would probably be costly. We both knew that Basie had been recording for almost everyone in those days, he didn’t seem to have an exclusive contract. John said he look into it and I said I’d ask Sherman Fairchild if he wanted to become involved. I discussed it with Sherman and John may have discussed it with Basie, but I don’t remember whether he did or not. Sherman felt it was a good idea, but ultimately it didn’t matter because he died unexpectedly following a routine procedure at Roosevelt Hospital. This not only removed the possibility of financing, but also closed down his East 65th Street studio. As it turned out someone else had the same idea, someone who had resources at hand. Norman Granz came storming back into the record business in 1972 and one of the first artists he signed was Count Basie. Within a year or so he produced a terrific trio date called For The First Time. The group was billed as the Kansas City Three and also included Ray Brown and Louie Bellson. A year later the group reassembled and For The Second Time was released. Norman produced a couple of dozen LPs featuring Basie in the autumn of his career and the small group dates were among the best of the series. In 1981 I finally got to meet Basie. In that year I joined forces with John Hammond and John Moore, and launched Hammond Music Enterprises. In the late spring of that year we had a celebratory party at Sardi’s and a hundred or so artists and friends of the company turned out for John, including Count Basie. He arrived on his motorized scooter, wearing an uncomfortable looking neck brace. He was frail; he’d suffered a severe heart attack a few years earlier and arthritis was creeping up on him, hence the scooter. He stayed for an hour or so, making the rounds and visiting with all his old friends. At some point he removed his neck brace, John introduced me to him, I took a few snapshots and that was my brush with greatness. I never got to work with Count Basie, but fast forward to 1993. We were producing a festival at sea that was a tribute to Joe Williams. We usually had a big band at all our festivals and that year, and after consultation with Joe, we managed to book the Frank Foster-led version of the Count Basie Orchestra. Bill Hughes, Danny Turner, Kenny Hing, and John Williams were left over from the last band led by Basie and the group sounded terrific, but I sure missed the sparse, lightly swinging piano I heard the first time, in the cheap seats way up high at the Syracuse War Memorial Auditorium. The CD version of viagra canada pharmacy was issued in 2002 and I was grateful. You can accumulate a lot of clicks and pops in fifty years. A word on the photos. I didn’t have a clear shot of Basie the entire evening and, frankly, I didn’t work very hard at it because I had other responsibilities. These images have been snatched from parts of negatives and worked up in Photoshop. But this is what Basie looked like that night. |
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