The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra

The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra is the jazz big band founded by pianist William Count Basie in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1935, assembled largely from the musicians left behind by the death of bandleader Bennie Moten. The 18-piece ensemble came to define Kansas City swing and has toured more or less continuously for nine decades, backing Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett along the way and later sharing stages with Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock. It has won 19 Grammy Awards. Since September 2013 the orchestra has been directed by trumpeter Scotty Barnhart, who spent two decades in the section as its featured trumpet soloist before taking the podium. Barnhart is a three-time Grammy winner, a professor of jazz trumpet at Florida State University, and the author of The World of Jazz Trumpet, a history built around interviews with more than fifty players. Under his direction the band cut its first Christmas record, A Very Swingin' Basie Christmas! (2015), with Johnny Mathis, Ledisi and Ellis Marsalis; All About That Basie (2018), featuring Stevie Wonder and Take 6; the concert album Live at Birdland (2021); and Basie Swings the Blues (2023), which drew on Buddy Guy, Keb' Mo' and George Benson and won the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Basie Rocks, made with vocalist Deborah Silver, followed in 2025 and was nominated in the same category. The current roster mixes long-tenured players, among them Clarence Banks, who was hired by Basie himself in 1984, with newer arrivals including bassist Trevor Ware and drummer Robert Boone. Live, the group works from the orchestra's own book, pairing signature Basie charts with arrangements written for the present band.

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