Count Basie Part Two
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Show Description:
The story picks up with the death of Benny Moten and the genesis of Count Basie's first band at the Reno Club in Kansas City. Broadcasts on experimental station W9XBY bring Lester Young and others to Kansas City to see the band they had heard on the radio. Thanks to the addition of Young and the All-American rhythm section, the Basie band bursts onto the national scene. Basie comes to New York with an uncertain reception and then breaks through with his first record contract with Decca. This installment covers a period that marks the both the pinnacle of success for Basie's Kansas City style and also some setbacks, including the death of tenor man Herschel Evans, the recording ban of the early 1940s, and the advent of World War II.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 3rd at 6pm
