Count Basie

piano, bandleader

Swing-era pianist and bandleader; Barry names his band among those people went to dance halls to hear when he was young.

mentions: 4
recordings: 3
Barry speaking: 1

What Barry says

Barry learned jazz by dancing to it. When he was young you went to a dance hall to hear Basie, as you did for Ellington, Stan Kenton, Bird and Dizzy, and everyone danced. Jazz musicians whose music nobody could dance to, he says, have been getting away with murder.

Feeling the ‘and’1:12 1:48

In his own words

That’s the only way I learned about jazz was dancing... [For] Duke [Ellington], you go to a dance hall, [Count Basie] dance hall, Charlie Parker dance hall, [Dizzy] Gillespie dance hall

Feeling the ‘and’, The Hague, 1989–98. Class on feeling the ‘and’, on dancing to the bands 1:12 Watch on YouTube at 1:12

Every mention

4 moments in the recordings, 1 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.

Feeling the ‘and’

The Hague, 1989–98

1:12
Barry
People went to dance halls to hear Basie, as for Ellington, Kenton, Bird and Dizzy, and danced.
Watch on YouTube at 1:12

Detroit Jazz: Ancient to the Future

28:30
Someone else
A Detroit bandleader on TV names Basie’s and Ellington’s bands as those still on the road.
Watch on YouTube at 28:30
24:14
Someone else
Garbled caption: a Detroit musician recalls the 1940s big bands, apparently Basie’s among them, before bebop.
Watch on YouTube at 24:14

Interview: tap dance and bebop

various, 1987–2019

11:08
Someone else
A podcast host names Basie with Ellington and Lunceford as the bandleaders of swing.
Watch on YouTube at 11:08

In the interviews and notes

Brian de Lima, doctoral thesis, 2017 A scholar
De Lima quotes Barry’s memory of hearing Kenton, Ellington, Basie, Bird and Dizzy in dance halls, where people danced to the music. He files it under his theme of ‘interrelated arts’, the ties between playing jazz, dancing, singing and movement, with dancing as the sub-theme.
Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶791Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶793Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶794
jazzguitar.be members, 2022 A student’s notes
A forum member studying Barry’s line building transcribes his class on the ‘ands’ at length, including the point that Ellington and Basie were heard in dance halls and that jazz was music to dance to.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Quick start guide to Barry Harris line building ¶172
Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press, 2000 A scholar
Stryker notes that around 1950 the saxophonist Frank Foster, who went on to write many arrangements for Basie, gave Barry a crib sheet of orchestration tips, which Barry still had when the article appeared in 2000.
Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶20
jazzguitar.be members (grahambop), 2017 A student’s notes
In a study group on the Kingstone/Harris harmonic method for guitar, one member says the moves with diminished chords on the flat second, flat third and sharp fourth, followed by a sixth or minor seventh chord, have a Basie or Ellington flavour to him.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Kingstone/Harris Harmonic Method for Guitar ¶344jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Kingstone/Harris Harmonic Method for Guitar ¶347

Method ideas nearby

Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.