The late Count Basie is one of the jazz immortals. The master of swing, whose beat was the subtlest and supplest of all the bandleaders, Basie featured some of the great soloists in jazz history while he sat unobtrusively at the piano, keeping time with his unmatched rhythm section, showing off the surging power of his brass players, and commenting wittily with a single chord or phrase. A man and musician of reserve and modesty, Basie nonetheless will always be a landmark for his own achievements and for the jazz musicians who passed through his band.

In his sociable and pioneering oral history of Basie and his band, Stanley Dance talks with the Count himself, Jimmy Rushing, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Joe Williams, Jay McShann, Jo Jones, Dicky Wells, Lester Young, and a dozen others, who reminisce about each other, Kansas City jazz, and their legendary peers Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker. With a rich flow of anecdote, opinion, and biographical information, this history both documents and assesses the legacy of Basie for American music.

STANLEY DANCE is the author of The World of Duke Ellington; The World of Earl Hines and The World of Swing. He is also editor of Jazz Era: the Forties, and a regular contributor to Jazz Times and other publications.

"Not only does the book paint a picture of Basie's history unlikely to be surpassed, it also provides fascinating glimpses of America's social history." - THE TIMES

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