MAKE IT COUNT

The legendary Count Basie Orchestra is still swinging after 80 years, as KANE YOUNG discovered

a month-long probationary period, trombonist Clarence Banks literally “got the nod” from Count Basie to become an official member of his worldfamous orchestra.

He would be was the last musician hand-picked by the legendary bandleader, who passed away just a few months later in April, 1984.

“He didn’t know my name then — I was ‘the new boy’,” Banks recalled.

“I grew up listening to the music and I could feel the music, I knew where it was going. But it took me a few weeks to learn how to phrase the music the way Basie wanted it done.

“Maybe four or five weeks into learning how to play, he finally asked me to come and take a solo. I was very shy, so I was afraid to look at him. I sort of peeked over my shoulder and saw him nod his head. Everyone in the band said ‘the old man likes you’, and that was it, I was in.”

By the time Banks was accepted into the fold, The Count Basie Orchestra had already been one of the world’s top jazz ensembles for nearly 50 years. It started back in 1935 when Kansas City Orchestra bandleader Bennie Moten died suddenly following a botched tonsillectomy, and the reins were handed to 30-year-old pianist Basie.

Along with the bands of Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Lunceford, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, The Count Basie Orchestra went on to define the big band era and provide the sound and swing behind some of the greatest singers of the modern age, including Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. So what made Basie so good? “First of all, he was a wonderful person,” Banks said.

“He was very close to people, and you felt that whenever you talked to him. There were no problems talking to the chief, he was easygoing. And that same persona was also on the bandstand. I won’t say he cracked the whip, but he was well disciplined, he knew how to run a band.

“He also had a knack for tempos, he knew how to swing the band. He knew what worked musically. He just had that knack. And a lot of people don’t know that in his day he was a heck of a pianist.”

You need to be a heck of a musician to join Basie’s band, but making the cut goes way beyond just being able to play your instrument.

Over the years the orchestra developed a distinctive sound and style of phrasing known as the “Basie way”, which was emulated — but never equalled — by jazz orchestras all around the world.

“We’ve had great musicians come in this band who just can’t play it,” Banks explained.

“The music’s not difficult, but when it comes to phrasing and certain other aspects of the music, they can’t make it. But other people do just great and fit right in.

“About 25 years ago, maybe more, we had a drummer — I won’t mention names — come in, and at the end of his very first night we had to let him go. He just couldn’t play the music, and we were starting an eightweek tour!

“It’s trial and error, and sometimes we don’t necessarily find that right person.”

But they seem to have found the right personnel now.

Currently directed by veteran trumpeter Scotty Barnhart, the Count Basie Orchestra still features three members hired by Basie himself: Banks, vocalist Carmen Bradford, and saxophonist John Williams. Mike Williams (1987) and Doug Miller (1989) also signed on in the ’80s, and orchestra veterans David Keim, Alvin Walker, Will Matthews, Marshall McDonald, Doug Lawrence and Cleave Guyton have been more recently joined by the band’s newest members Mark Williams, Bruce Harris, Jay Branford, Bobby Floyd and Marcus McLaurine.

The orchestra, which has won 18 Grammy Awards and been hailed by the

as “the greatest big band working today”, is touring Australia and New Zealand to celebrate its 80th anniversary, and Banks believes it is only getting better with age.

“It’s definitely better, much better now,” he said.

“Considering that there’s only about five or six guys who have been in the band for more than 20 years, we’ve managed to carry on the tradition, the Basie sound and style.

“If he were still alive he’d be a hundred and something years old, and if he was to hear the band now he’d still be very pleased.”

The Count Basie Orchestra play at Wrest Point from 8pm on May 22.

Tickets are $80.65-$131.15. For bookings phone 1300 795 257 or go to www.tixtas.com.au.

They also perform at Launceston’s Princess Theatre the following night.

For bookings, go to http://theatrenorth.com.au