The World of Count Basie

Basie, Count; Dance, Stanley

ISBN 10: 0684166046 / ISBN 13: 9780684166049

Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York

About this Item

[0-684-16604-6] 1980. (hardcover) Very good in very good dust jacket. xxi, 399pp. 8vo. Jacket shows light wear at the lower edge, faint rubbing. Black cloth, silver title stamped to spine. There is a name penned (small, in red ink) to the front free endpaper; else is clean, tight, bright, solid. An essential history of the great bandleader and the music he made, richly illustrated through anecdotes, opinions, biographical information, and extraordinary black and white photographs.

Seller Inventory # 126990

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The World of Count Basie
• Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York
• ISBN 10: 0684166046
• ISBN 13: 9780684166049
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Music

About this title

Synopsis

The late Count Basie is one of the jazz immortals. The master of swing, whose beat was the subtlest and supplest of all the bandleaders, Basie featured some of the great soloists in jazz history while he sat unobtrusively at the piano, keeping time with his unmatched rhythm section, showing off the surging power of his brass players, and commenting wittily with a single chord or phrase. A man and musician of reserve and modesty, Basie nonetheless will always be a landmark for his won achievements and for the jazz musicians who passed through his band. In this sociable and pioneering oral history of Basie and his band, Stanley Dance talks with the Count himself, Jimmy Rushing, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Joe Williams, Jay McShann, Jo Jones, Dicky Wells, Lester Young, and a dozen others, who reminisce about each other, Kansas City jazz, and their legendary peers Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker. With a rich flow of anecdote, opinion, and biographical information—and with striking photographs—this history both documents and assesses the legacy of Basie for American music.

About the Author

Stanley Dance (1910–1999) was the author of The World of Duke Ellington, The World of Earl Hines, The World of Swing and editor of Jazz Era: The Forties, all published by Da Capo Press. He was a regular contributor to Jazz Times and other publications.