Dance of the Gremlins/Swingin’ the Blues
Count Basie and his Orchestra
Swingin’ in the ’40s
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New Jersey native Count Basie has a name now synonymous with jazz, but at least in the late ’30s he favored the blues – showcasing among other Billie Holiday’s cracks at it.
His band would take their sound to New York City right when the swing era was really taking off in the late ’30s, early ’40s. This was a time when he was competing with Chick Webb’s band. Basie got a major break when Benny Goodman covered their “One O’Clock Jump,” a Basie original with which his band had become synonymous.
Personnel:
William “Count” Basie, piano
Don Byas, tenor saxophone
Harry “Sweets” Edison, trumpet
Buck Clayton, trumpet
Jo Jones, drums
Ella Fitzgerald