"Irrespective of tempo, his melodic invention was always strange and haunting. On a jump number, he would impose a weird mood; a ballad was transformed into a nostalgic song, searching and mysterious.

Back in 2009, Mosaic Records issued Classic Columbia, Okeh and Vocalion Lester Young With Count Basie (1936-1940) , a 4-CD boxed set covering four years. When the limited number of boxes pressed sold ...

Forecasting the paths that big-band jazz might travel is difficult now that another of its pacesetters has reached the end of his journey. In symbolic terms, the loss of Count Basie, who died last ...

Along with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, the legendary tenor saxophonist Lester Young is considered one of the seminal figures in the history of jazz. From his first recorded ...

William James “Count” Basie (1904-1984) played piano, led bands, and composed jazz music in America. Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, Basie grew up in a musical family. He started as a musician in ...

A.B. SPELLMAN, National Endowment for the Arts: Murray, the Idiot's 30-second History of Jazz would have women singing the blues, trumpet players playing like women singing the blues, Louis Armstrong ...