Wed 3/26 @ 7:30PM
Jazz pianist/composer/band leader Count Basie died in 1984 at the age of 79, having made an immense impact on jazz, especially of big band music and how it’s presented. He led his ensemble from 1935 — the heart of the big band era — until his death. His ensemble worked with vocalists such as Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstine and even Frank Sinatra.
And his music lived on after him, not only in the top-flight jazz musicians his orchestra produced and the music of musicians influenced by him, but in the ongoing ensemble known as “The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra,” which performs his world-renowned compositions in the style he created. It’s been led since 2013 by Grammy-winning jazz trumpet player Scotty Barnhart and features vocalist Carmen Bradford, the daughter of two noted jazz musicians; she was first hired by Basie himself when she was just 22 (she’s now 64).
The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra will be performing at the Tri-C Metro Campus Auditorium. Get tickets here.