Summary: August 24, 1904 is the birthday of the late bandleader William Count Basie. To celebrate his birthday, I have pulled out a program I produced back in 2013. I decided to focus on the year of 1939 and play many of the songs recorded by the Basie band during that year. I am a big fan of the Basie band as my father had a couple of his records and as I grew older I began to explore the history and recordings of the man known as Count Basie. In addition to Basie, there were those great sidemen of his to spotlight. Musicians like Lester Young, Helen Humes, Buck Clayton, Dickie Wells, and Jo Jones make this a really great year for the Count. This is a good program and I hope you enjoy the music as well as a brief biography of the William Bill Basie known in the big band circle as Count.
