Wednesday Mar 19, 2025
Count Basie in the 1950s
The big band era died out in the post World War II years as musical tastes in both jazz and popular music changed in our culture. As another factor, the economics of the music industry were transformed, making it difficult to sustain the financial footing of a large touring ensemble.
Yet Count Basie managed to stem this tide and not only survive, but thrive in this new milieu.
First, in 1950 he trimmed his band to an octet for a couple of years, and soloists such as Clark Terry, Buddy DeFranco and Wardell Gray made him successful artistically and allowed him to stay alive financially.
Next, Basie developed a different big band concept that was refined and elegant yet maintained the core values of “in the pocket” rhythm and an affinity for dancers It included arrangements by cultivated masters such as Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkins and a revitalized ensemble of fine musicians and composers. This sound is exemplified by enduring pieces such as “April In Paris”, “Splanky” “Shiny Stockings” and “Corner Pocket”, to name a few. The emerging aggregation was termed the “New Testament” band, to distinguish it from the divine raw power of the original. Basie’s earlier “swinging-est band in the land” was now the “Old Testament”.
With recordings for Norman Granz, lengthy engagements at the Birdland nightclub, and national concert tours, Basie gained a new level of popular appeal. The band continued to grow and evolve with the addition of musicians such as Joe Newman, Thad Jones, Al Grey, Frank Foster and Frank Wess. There also were intermittent stays by the robust Eddie Lockjaw Davis. Eventually, Basie further enhanced his presentation with the added flavor of the suave blues vocals of Joe Williams.
The band took a further step forward in 1957 as it propelled itself to a more explosive sound while staying within its still graceful outlook and sophisticated arrangements. This was animated by its switch to Roulette Records and their first album there, starkly featuring the mushroom cloud cover photo and title E=MC2. Thus was ushered in what would be called Basie’s “Atomic Period”, lasting through the end of the decade and even into the early 1960s..
Our program surveys these themes and plays representative samples of Basie’s famous, and also less-famous, recordings of the period.
originally broadcast March 16, 2025
3 days ago
A major personality involved in the re-formatioon of the Basie band in 1951-52 was Morris Levy, a mob connected, predatory music executive who founded Roulette Records and theRound Table restaurant in addition to Birdland. My dad, Morris Primack was his partner and responsible for obtaining the club’s liquor license in 1949. The band appeared at Birdland so often in the early 50’s that its mail was frequently delivered there. In 1953 a friendly rivalry commenced between the Basie band and the Birdland staff resulting in two baseball teams that played in the early morning in Central Park. Eventually the games gained enough attention to result in a charity game up at Bear Mountain State Park sponsored by the PAL in 1954. I was 14 and my job was to accompany my dad who was taking a truck containing all the food and drink for the outing. When we arrived dad parked the truck and went to check in with Park staff. I went to the back of the truck to start off loading some large tubs of potato salad but couldn’t budge them . I felt a presence behind me and when I turned around it was large gentleman who moved past me easily unloading one of the tubs. At that moment my dad returned seeing me somewhat speechless had me shake hands with ”Mr. Swat”. I knew enough to not ask any questions. Mr. Swat became the third base umpire later that day and there were no disputed calls during his tenure. It wasn’t until 2013 while being interviewed by someone writing a book about Levy did I learn the Mr. Swat aka Swats Mulligan aka Dominic Ciafone a member in good standing in the Genovese crime family. The fact that he was casually rubbing elbows with cops (remember it was a PAL affair} politicians, reporters and various other Broadway dignitaries astounds me to tis day. Aurin Primack