WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.180 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We are shifting 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:05.179 gears a bit today. Usually we're tearing apart 00:00:05.179 --> 00:00:07.200 a specific book or maybe some breaking news, 00:00:07.339 --> 00:00:10.519 but today we're looking at a system. A method, 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:12.980 really. Yes, a method of organization that kind 00:00:12.980 --> 00:00:15.359 of disguised itself as a band. We're talking 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:17.920 about William James Count Basie. Oh, count. And 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:20.460 I want to set the stage here immediately. We 00:00:20.460 --> 00:00:22.460 aren't just doing a biography of a guy who played 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:30.989 the piano. I mean, probably 90 % of the picture. 00:00:31.070 --> 00:00:33.210 He wasn't the most technical player of his generation. 00:00:33.409 --> 00:00:35.310 No. That was probably someone like Art Tatum. 00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:37.990 And he wasn't the most prolific composer. That 00:00:37.990 --> 00:00:40.570 was Duke Ellington, hands down. Sure. But Basie, 00:00:40.590 --> 00:00:43.149 Basie was the architect of something arguably 00:00:43.149 --> 00:00:46.350 more physical. He built the engine of swing. 00:00:47.170 --> 00:00:49.149 That's it. That's the angle I really want to 00:00:49.149 --> 00:00:51.329 unpack. I was looking at the timeline while prepping 00:00:51.329 --> 00:00:55.020 for this, and the longevity is frankly... It's 00:00:55.020 --> 00:00:58.539 wild. He leads a band from 1935 until his death 00:00:58.539 --> 00:01:02.259 in 1984. Almost 50 years. It's unheard of. It's 00:01:02.259 --> 00:01:04.620 nearly half a century. I mean, he steered this 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:07.760 massive ship through the vaudeville era, the 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.079 depression, the swing craze, the death of the 00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:13.640 big bands. The rise of bebop. The rise of bebop, 00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:15.620 rock and roll, and even into the synthesizer 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:19.519 era of the 80s. And he didn't just... survive 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:22.900 all that. No, he thrived. He remained the gold 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:25.000 standard through all of it. It's the ultimate 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.200 case study in adaptability, isn't it? It really 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:30.500 is. You have to remember, the big band is. It's 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:34.260 a dinosaur by 1950. Economically, it just shouldn't 00:01:34.260 --> 00:01:37.099 exist anymore. Right. Logistically, touring with 00:01:37.099 --> 00:01:40.540 16 to 18 people is a complete nightmare. Yet, 00:01:40.579 --> 00:01:43.120 Basie kept it viable. And he didn't just have 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:46.459 one great band. He created two entirely distinct 00:01:46.459 --> 00:01:49.420 legendary bands. The Old Testament, the New Testament 00:01:49.420 --> 00:01:52.459 band. Exactly. The band of the 30s and the reinvented 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:55.079 one from the 50s onward. And he did it all with 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:57.620 a leadership style that I find so fascinating, 00:01:57.780 --> 00:02:00.500 counterintuitive. And a genre just filled with 00:02:00.500 --> 00:02:02.420 these massive egos, these loud personalities. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:04.599 Oh, absolutely. You know, think Betty Goodman 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:07.920 or, God forbid, Buddy Rich. Bessie was the quiet 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.669 man. He led by listening. So our mission today 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:16.550 is to figure out how a failed drummer from New 00:02:16.550 --> 00:02:19.650 Jersey became, you know, American jazz royalty. 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:22.469 The Count. The Count. And specifically, I want 00:02:22.469 --> 00:02:24.949 to drill down into the mechanics of that rhythm 00:02:24.949 --> 00:02:27.030 section, the physics of it. In the all -American 00:02:27.030 --> 00:02:28.789 rhythm section. We are definitely going to spend 00:02:28.789 --> 00:02:30.490 some time there because that is where the DNA 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:34.009 of modern music really shifts. Okay, so let's 00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:35.430 start at the beginning. But I want to skip the 00:02:35.430 --> 00:02:37.349 standard, he was born, he went to school stuff. 00:02:37.509 --> 00:02:39.509 Let's talk about Red Bank, New Jersey, around, 00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:43.610 say... 1915 1920 right we know his mother Lillian 00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:46.110 taught him his first piano notes his father was 00:02:46.110 --> 00:02:49.110 a groundskeeper it's a humble beginning we know 00:02:49.110 --> 00:02:51.870 about the 25 cent lessons but the pivotal moment 00:02:51.870 --> 00:02:53.469 for me the thing that explains everything about 00:02:53.469 --> 00:02:55.870 his later style is that he didn't want to be 00:02:55.870 --> 00:02:58.849 a pianist he wanted to be a drummer he was obsessed 00:02:58.849 --> 00:03:01.919 with the drums And I think if you really listen 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:05.780 to Basie's mature piano style, those short percussive 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:09.000 jabs he makes, the way he uses space, it's the 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.219 playing of a frustrated drummer. That's a great 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:14.099 way to put it. He isn't playing these long flowing 00:03:14.099 --> 00:03:17.560 melody lines. He's playing rhythm on a melodic 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.219 instrument. But he got chased off the kit, so 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:22.620 to speak. And not just by anyone. No, not at 00:03:22.620 --> 00:03:25.479 all. By Sonny Greer, who was also a Red Bank 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:29.020 local. And Greer was, well, he was a prodigy. 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:30.840 He had the flash, the speed, the independence 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.259 of limbs. He was the real deal. And Basie just 00:03:33.259 --> 00:03:36.080 sees this. Basie recounts hearing Greer play 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.599 and basically having a crisis of confidence. 00:03:38.659 --> 00:03:41.710 A complete, I can't do that. moment. So at age 00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:43.969 15, he just retreated to the piano. It is one 00:03:43.969 --> 00:03:46.229 of the great what ifs of jazz history, isn't 00:03:46.229 --> 00:03:48.430 it? If Sonny Greer is just 10 percent less talented. 00:03:48.530 --> 00:03:51.889 Right. Basie stays on drums, maybe becomes a 00:03:51.889 --> 00:03:54.449 solid local timekeeper. And we never get the 00:03:54.449 --> 00:03:56.909 Count Basie Orchestra. And frankly, Duke Ellington 00:03:56.909 --> 00:03:59.210 loses his legendary drummer because Greer went 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:01.780 on to be Duke's anchor for decades. Wow. It's 00:04:01.780 --> 00:04:03.979 a total sliding doors moment. But that retreat 00:04:03.979 --> 00:04:06.439 to the piano wasn't a retreat into virtuosity. 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:09.539 That's the key. He didn't try to become Liszt 00:04:09.539 --> 00:04:12.439 or Art Tatum. He took that drummer's mindset, 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:14.900 the idea that your job is to drive the band, 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:17.540 not to drown it out, and he applied it directly 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:20.740 to the 88 keys. And he honed that mindset in 00:04:20.740 --> 00:04:24.139 a very specific and I'd say grueling environment. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:27.420 Oh, absolutely. The vaudeville circuit, the TOBA 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:29.279 circuit, the Theater Owners Booking Association. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:32.899 The tough on black artists circuit, as it was 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:35.699 known. Exactly. I think people romanticize this 00:04:35.699 --> 00:04:38.839 era, but reading the accounts, this was a grind. 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:41.620 But more importantly, it was a very specific 00:04:41.620 --> 00:04:44.379 type of musical training. This is so crucial. 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.379 He wasn't playing concertos. No, he was accompanying 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:50.439 silent movies and comedians. I'll think about 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:52.879 that for a second. When you are the pianist for 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:55.410 a silent movie. You are reacting constantly. 00:04:55.449 --> 00:04:58.129 You are watching the screen. If a character slips 00:04:58.129 --> 00:05:00.730 on a banana peel, you hit a chord. You're training 00:05:00.730 --> 00:05:02.769 your eye -ear coordination second by second. 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:05.449 Musical punchline. Exactly. But accompanying 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:07.870 the vaudeville acts, the singers like Gunzel 00:05:07.870 --> 00:05:11.110 White or the comedians, that is where he truly 00:05:11.110 --> 00:05:13.350 learned the art of the fill. Right. Because if 00:05:13.350 --> 00:05:15.509 you play over the punchline. You get fired. Yeah. 00:05:15.550 --> 00:05:17.490 Simple as that. If the comedian is setting up 00:05:17.490 --> 00:05:19.149 a joke, you have to be completely invisible. 00:05:19.509 --> 00:05:22.290 If the singer is taking a breath between phrases, 00:05:22.610 --> 00:05:25.170 that is your window. That's your one or two seconds 00:05:25.170 --> 00:05:27.689 to play a little run, a little flourish. If you 00:05:27.689 --> 00:05:29.850 play while they're singing. You're stepping on 00:05:29.850 --> 00:05:32.610 the product. So for years, Basie's being trained 00:05:32.610 --> 00:05:35.990 to listen first, play second. He learned that 00:05:35.990 --> 00:05:38.490 silence is actually a powerful part of the arrangement. 00:05:39.069 --> 00:05:41.529 Which is the complete antithesis of the jazz 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:44.250 soloist ego that develops later with Bebop, right? 00:05:44.730 --> 00:05:47.490 Where the goal is to cram as many notes as physically 00:05:47.490 --> 00:05:50.389 possible into the bar. Completely. Basie is coming 00:05:50.389 --> 00:05:52.930 from a service mindset. He's there to serve the 00:05:52.930 --> 00:05:55.350 act. He's a supporting character. And that service 00:05:55.350 --> 00:05:58.870 mindset eventually lands him in the Midwest. 00:05:59.170 --> 00:06:01.470 He gets stranded in Kansas City on a tour that 00:06:01.470 --> 00:06:03.269 falls apart. And this is where the chemistry 00:06:03.269 --> 00:06:05.310 set really starts to bubble. Yes. You have a 00:06:05.310 --> 00:06:07.790 guy trained in the Harlem stride tradition because 00:06:07.790 --> 00:06:10.649 he did spend time in New York learning from Fats 00:06:10.649 --> 00:06:13.629 Waller, learning that heavy left hand organ technique. 00:06:13.670 --> 00:06:16.089 Right. That oompa sound. But now he's dropped 00:06:16.089 --> 00:06:18.329 into the middle of the Kansas City blues scene. 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:21.029 It's a totally different flavor. I want to focus 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:22.730 on the Kansas City sound for a second because 00:06:22.730 --> 00:06:25.050 it really is distinct from what was happening 00:06:25.050 --> 00:06:28.930 in New York or New Orleans. It just feels, I 00:06:28.930 --> 00:06:31.860 don't know, looser. It is significantly looser, 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:34.300 and there's a reason for that. New York jazz 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:37.600 in the late 20s and early 30s, you know, think 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.980 Fletcher Henderson's band, was becoming very 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:43.459 arranged, very sophisticated. It was about reading 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:47.420 music on a chart. Polished. Very polished. Kansas 00:06:47.420 --> 00:06:50.139 City, on the other hand, was a wide open town. 00:06:50.300 --> 00:06:52.639 It was run by the Pendergast political machine, 00:06:52.860 --> 00:06:55.339 which meant prohibition didn't really exist there. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:59.000 The clubs were open 24 hours a day. Wow. So the 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:00.660 musicians were playing these marathon eight, 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:04.180 10 -hour gigs. You physically cannot play complex 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:06.360 written arrangements for 10 hours straight. You 00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:08.399 need something more sustainable. This brings 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:10.680 us to the head arrangement. I was reading about 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:13.279 this process, and honestly, as a musician, it 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:16.420 sounds terrifying. It is. You have a 10 -piece, 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:19.240 later a 16 -piece band. There is no sheet music. 00:07:19.579 --> 00:07:22.379 Yeah. And they're just winging it. How does that 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:24.399 not turn into a complete train wreck every night? 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.620 It works because of one simple, powerful concept. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.819 The riff. Okay. A riff is just a short, rhythmic, 00:07:31.899 --> 00:07:35.560 melodic phrase, maybe two bars long. Super catchy. 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.759 In a head arrangement, the saxophone section 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:40.839 might start playing a riff they just made up. 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:43.439 On the spot. Completely on the spot. The trumpets 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.399 hear it and they invent a counter riff, something 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.399 that fits in the gaps of the saxophone line. 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:51.480 Then the trombones come in and add a bottom layer, 00:07:51.579 --> 00:07:54.439 another riff. It's collective real time composition. 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:56.459 So it's modular. It's like building with musical 00:07:56.459 --> 00:07:59.160 Legos. It is entirely modular. And because they 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.319 had to memorize it instantly, the music had to 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:03.279 be simple. It had to be blues based. It had to 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:06.160 be catchy. It relied on rhythm and repetition 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:09.680 rather than, say, harmonic complexity. That's 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:13.529 why the Kansas City. And the ultimate example 00:08:13.529 --> 00:08:15.490 of this whole process has to be One O 'Clock 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:18.870 Jump. The story of how that song was born is 00:08:18.870 --> 00:08:20.889 just incredible. It's the perfect illustration. 00:08:20.910 --> 00:08:23.310 They were doing a late night radio broadcast 00:08:23.310 --> 00:08:27.250 from the Reno Club in Kansas City. And this is 00:08:27.250 --> 00:08:28.870 also, by the way, where he gets the nickname 00:08:28.870 --> 00:08:32.710 Count. Oh, right. The announcer. The radio announcer 00:08:32.710 --> 00:08:35.830 wanted to give him some style to compete with 00:08:35.830 --> 00:08:40.029 Duke Ellington and Earl Fatha Hines. So on the 00:08:40.029 --> 00:08:43.450 air, he just dubs him Count Basie and it's stuck. 00:08:43.950 --> 00:08:46.570 So he's the new count. They're live on the radio 00:08:46.570 --> 00:08:48.210 and they're running out of material. They're 00:08:48.210 --> 00:08:50.629 running out of time to fill. So Basie just turns 00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:53.129 to the band and says something like, we're going 00:08:53.129 --> 00:08:54.549 to hit the rhythm and then you guys come in. 00:08:54.629 --> 00:08:56.370 And he starts playing a simple blues pattern 00:08:56.370 --> 00:08:59.269 in the key of D flat. Okay, now D flat is a great 00:08:59.269 --> 00:09:01.250 key for a pianist. It fits under the fingers 00:09:01.250 --> 00:09:04.090 nicely. But for horn players. It's a miserable 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:06.470 key for horn players. It's a nightmare. Lots 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:08.730 of flats to navigate mentally, especially when 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:10.870 you're improvising. But they do it. They do it. 00:09:10.870 --> 00:09:13.850 They lock in instantly. But then the real magic 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:16.730 happens. Midway through the song, Basie modulates. 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:19.610 He just changes the key up to F. Live on the 00:09:19.610 --> 00:09:22.210 radio. Live on the radio. Now think about the 00:09:22.210 --> 00:09:25.649 panic that should induce. You have 12 guys making 00:09:25.649 --> 00:09:29.350 up riffs, and suddenly the entire harmonic floor 00:09:29.350 --> 00:09:32.429 shifts underneath them. They have to transpose 00:09:32.429 --> 00:09:35.340 everything they were doing up a fourth. And they 00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:37.820 nailed it. They didn't just nail it. That key 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:39.960 change became the signature hook of the song. 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:42.740 It's proof that these guys weren't just jamming 00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:45.259 randomly. They had ears like radar. They were 00:09:45.259 --> 00:09:47.679 listening. They were listening to Basie so intently 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:49.899 that wherever he went, they followed immediately. 00:09:50.659 --> 00:09:53.000 That is that leadership through listening we 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:54.919 talked about earlier. Okay, so we have the riffs. 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:57.759 We have the on -the -fly improvisation. But a 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:00.259 riff is just a melody unless it has a powerful 00:10:00.259 --> 00:10:02.320 engine behind it. And this is where we really 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:04.679 need to get technical. Yes. The All -American 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:07.860 Rhythm Section. Basie on piano, Walter Page on 00:10:07.860 --> 00:10:11.139 bass, Joe Jones on drums, and Freddie Green on 00:10:11.139 --> 00:10:13.620 guitar. The holy quartet of swing. You cannot 00:10:13.620 --> 00:10:16.019 overstate their importance. I want to talk about 00:10:16.019 --> 00:10:18.539 Freddie Green first. Yeah. Because to a modern 00:10:18.539 --> 00:10:21.139 listener, or maybe a rock fan, Freddie Green 00:10:21.139 --> 00:10:23.980 makes absolutely no sense. He's an enigma. He 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:26.919 played an unamplified acoustic guitar in a band 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:30.379 with 13 blasting horns. He almost never took 00:10:30.379 --> 00:10:34.129 a solo in a 50 -year career. Why on earth is 00:10:34.129 --> 00:10:36.549 he considered a legend? Because of the physics 00:10:36.549 --> 00:10:38.629 of the chug. That's the only way I can describe 00:10:38.629 --> 00:10:40.730 it. You have to understand the acoustic environment 00:10:40.730 --> 00:10:43.610 in the 1930s. There are no monitors. The microphones 00:10:43.610 --> 00:10:46.509 are terrible. The band needs a pulse. It can 00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:48.870 feel in its bones. Right. So you have Walter 00:10:48.870 --> 00:10:51.029 Page on the bass playing the big foundational 00:10:51.029 --> 00:10:53.509 low notes on beats one and three. You have Joe 00:10:53.509 --> 00:10:55.610 Jones on the hi -hats giving you that high frequency 00:10:55.610 --> 00:10:58.129 sizzle. Freddie Green occupied the mid -range. 00:10:58.230 --> 00:11:00.309 Acoustic notch in the sound. Exactly that. He 00:11:00.309 --> 00:11:02.450 played these big high action arch top guitars. 00:11:02.539 --> 00:11:06.039 and he struck the strings with incredible force. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:09.299 But, and this is the secret, he damped them almost 00:11:09.299 --> 00:11:11.659 instantly with his left hand. So instead of a 00:11:11.659 --> 00:11:13.840 ringing crane chord that would just muddy everything 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.860 up, you got a short, sharp, percussive chunk. 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:19.580 Four chunks to a bar. Chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:20.940 chunk. It was a drum that just happened to play 00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:24.179 pitch. And he was religious about not soloing. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:27.120 There are stories that if he ever played a single 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:29.740 note line, Basie would just stop the band and 00:11:29.740 --> 00:11:31.720 glare at him. Or he'd just stop playing himself. 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:34.159 He'd lift his hands off the keys and just wait. 00:11:34.379 --> 00:11:37.440 The message was crystal clear. If you stop the 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:41.179 heartbeat to show off, the patient dies. Freddie 00:11:41.179 --> 00:11:43.360 Green's discipline creates that relentless forward 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.200 momentum. That's what musicians mean when they 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:49.139 say a band is truly swinging. It's that unbreakable 00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:51.399 quarter note pulse. It's like the driveshaft 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:53.440 of the car. Perfect analogy. And then you have 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:55.940 Joe Jones on drums, who completely changes the 00:11:55.940 --> 00:11:58.279 game. He stops pounding the bass drum on every 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:00.639 single beat. This was the revolution. Before 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:02.879 Joe Jones, drummers played like marching bands. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:04.620 It was boom, boom, boom, boom on the bass drum. 00:12:04.700 --> 00:12:07.240 It was heavy. It was plodding. Sure. Joe Jones 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:09.679 moves the primary timekeeping function from the 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:12.840 bass drum up to the hi -hat cymbals, that shimmering 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:16.220 sound that we now take for granted. That was 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:18.320 him. And what did that do for the sound? It did 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:21.379 two things. First, it opened up the entire bottom 00:12:21.379 --> 00:12:23.580 end of the audio spectrum so you could actually 00:12:23.580 --> 00:12:26.419 hear the bass player, Walter Page, walking his 00:12:26.419 --> 00:12:29.240 bass lines. And second, it made the rhythm feel 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:31.779 like it was floating. It became aerodynamic. 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:34.879 It allowed the band to jump, not just stomp. 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:37.539 And Basie is sitting on top of all of this. He 00:12:37.539 --> 00:12:39.679 isn't playing that heavy Harlem stride anymore. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:41.820 He's not playing constant rhythm. He doesn't 00:12:41.820 --> 00:12:44.120 need to. Freddie Green and Walter Page have the 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:46.480 rhythm completely covered. Basie is now free 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:50.299 to do something totally new for a pianist. Comping. 00:12:50.440 --> 00:12:52.830 Just playing chords. Not even full chords sometimes. 00:12:52.990 --> 00:12:56.250 He plays accents. He plays conversation. He'll 00:12:56.250 --> 00:12:59.269 poke a soloist with a little phrase. He'll drop 00:12:59.269 --> 00:13:02.009 in a dissonant chord just to wake everyone up. 00:13:02.129 --> 00:13:04.330 He became the conductor from the keyboard. So 00:13:04.330 --> 00:13:06.389 you have this absolutely airtight rhythm section. 00:13:06.610 --> 00:13:09.870 And then you have the horns. And Basie, being 00:13:09.870 --> 00:13:12.509 the brilliant manager that he was, decides to 00:13:12.509 --> 00:13:15.730 manufacture some drama up front. Oh, yeah. The 00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:17.830 duel of the tenors. Yeah. Lester Young versus 00:13:17.830 --> 00:13:20.440 Herschel Evans. This wasn't just a musical difference. 00:13:20.659 --> 00:13:23.080 This was a fundamental personality clash that 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:25.460 Basie exploited for maximum theatrical effect. 00:13:26.100 --> 00:13:29.080 Herschel Evans was the hawk. He was from the 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:31.399 Coleman Hawkins school of tenor sax. Meaning? 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:35.779 Meaning a huge, muscular, heavy tone with a wide, 00:13:35.779 --> 00:13:39.080 aggressive vibrato. It was a masculine, emotional 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:41.779 Texas sound. He would growl through the horn. 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:43.700 And Lester Young? Lester Young was from another 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:46.379 planet entirely. They called him Prez, as in 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:49.600 the president. He held the saxophone at a weird 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:52.500 sideways angle, almost like a flute. His tone 00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:55.559 was light, airy, with almost zero vibrato. It 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:58.039 was cerebral. It was cool. And they did not get 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.440 along. Evans hated Young's playing. He thought 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:02.559 it was weak and effeminate. Young thought Evans' 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:05.080 style was corny and old -fashioned. And Basie, 00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:07.120 instead of trying to make peace, puts him on 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.000 opposite sides of the stage. It was brilliant 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.440 theater. He would point to Evans, who would play 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.080 a blistering passionate chorus and whip the crowd 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.019 into a frenzy with that raw power. Then everything 00:14:17.019 --> 00:14:19.320 would calm down and he'd nod to Lester Young, 00:14:19.500 --> 00:14:22.139 who would just float in with this cool, detached, 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:25.379 elegant melody. It taught the audience that jazz 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:27.740 could be two things at once. It could be hot 00:14:27.740 --> 00:14:29.779 and it could be cool. It could be physical and 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:32.360 it could be intellectual. And it forced the band 00:14:32.360 --> 00:14:34.379 to be able to pivot instantly between those two 00:14:34.379 --> 00:14:37.019 completely different energies. So this lineup, 00:14:37.139 --> 00:14:39.799 the Old Testament band, eventually gets discovered 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:42.639 by the famous producer John Hammond. Right. He 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:45.039 hears them on a shortwave radio broadcast in 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:48.100 his car in Chicago, and he literally drives to 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:50.799 Kansas City to find them. He finds them. They 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:53.299 record the famous Jones Smith Incorporated sessions 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:56.340 because Basie was under contract to someone else. 00:14:56.419 --> 00:14:58.720 A session that Hammond later called the only 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:00.740 completely perfect recording session I've ever 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:02.779 had anything to do with. You get tracks like 00:15:02.779 --> 00:15:05.399 Shoeshine Boy and Lady Be Good from that. Pure 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:07.480 lightning in a bottle. So they have the record, 00:15:07.580 --> 00:15:09.299 they have the hype, and they head to New York 00:15:09.299 --> 00:15:12.200 City. But this is where the story hits a... Pretty 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:15.480 big snag. They arrive at the Roseland Ballroom 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:20.110 in 1937, and they essentially flop. They flopped 00:15:20.110 --> 00:15:22.970 because of context. The New York audience at 00:15:22.970 --> 00:15:25.830 a place like the Roseland was used to the polish 00:15:25.830 --> 00:15:28.389 of Fletcher Henderson or Duke Ellington. They 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:30.990 were used to sophisticated arrangements, smooth 00:15:30.990 --> 00:15:33.590 transitions, written charts. And Basie's band 00:15:33.590 --> 00:15:35.950 comes in. And they're playing these raw riff 00:15:35.950 --> 00:15:39.009 -based head arrangements. They are relying on 00:15:39.009 --> 00:15:42.509 pure energy and bluesy improvisation. And to 00:15:42.509 --> 00:15:45.350 the sophisticated New York ear, it sounded like 00:15:45.350 --> 00:15:47.970 noise. It sounded like a backwoods band. There's 00:15:47.970 --> 00:15:49.769 that one review. that said the band was supposed 00:15:49.769 --> 00:15:52.330 to set the place on fire, but the Roseland is 00:15:52.330 --> 00:15:55.549 still standing. Ouch. Yeah. It was a brutal wake 00:15:55.549 --> 00:15:57.830 -up call. It was the moment they realized that 00:15:57.830 --> 00:16:01.049 pure Kansas City energy wasn't enough to conquer 00:16:01.049 --> 00:16:03.509 the East Coast. They had to refine the presentation. 00:16:03.990 --> 00:16:05.970 So they had to learn to read music better, clean 00:16:05.970 --> 00:16:08.370 up the intros and the outros. Exactly. They had 00:16:08.370 --> 00:16:10.750 to professionalize the raw energy without killing 00:16:10.750 --> 00:16:13.929 it. But they clearly didn't lose the fire. Because 00:16:13.929 --> 00:16:17.350 a year later, 1938, they walk into the Savoy 00:16:17.350 --> 00:16:20.230 Ballroom in Harlem to face off against Chick 00:16:20.230 --> 00:16:23.269 Webb's band. And for our listeners, the battle 00:16:23.269 --> 00:16:25.289 of the bands at the Savoy wasn't just a figure 00:16:25.289 --> 00:16:27.990 of speech. This was a gladiator match. It was 00:16:27.990 --> 00:16:31.409 absolutely a combat sport. The audience, which 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:33.149 could be thousands of the best dancers in the 00:16:33.149 --> 00:16:35.529 world, literally voted with their feet. If they 00:16:35.529 --> 00:16:38.190 danced to your band, you won. If they sat down, 00:16:38.309 --> 00:16:41.649 you lost. And Chick Webb was the undisputed king 00:16:41.649 --> 00:16:44.429 of the Savoy. He was a small man, a hunchback 00:16:44.429 --> 00:16:47.289 due to spinal tuberculosis, but he was a drummer 00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:50.769 of terrifying power and aggression. He was famous 00:16:50.769 --> 00:16:54.110 for literally physically exhausting other bands. 00:16:54.230 --> 00:16:56.070 He would just play faster and louder until the 00:16:56.070 --> 00:16:58.289 other guys couldn't keep up and just packed it 00:16:58.289 --> 00:17:01.029 in. So Chick Webb comes out swinging. He's sweating. 00:17:01.149 --> 00:17:03.529 He's beating the drums furiously. He's driving 00:17:03.529 --> 00:17:05.950 his band like a madman. How does Basie respond 00:17:05.950 --> 00:17:08.759 to that? And this is the absolute genius of Basie's 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:10.980 temperament. He didn't try to out -muscle Chick 00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:12.920 Webb. You can't out -muscle Chick Webb at the 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:15.359 Savoy. It's a fool's errand. So what did he do? 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:18.259 He played the rope -a -dope. He kept the tempos 00:17:18.259 --> 00:17:21.140 medium, even a little relaxed. He let that all 00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:23.460 -American rhythm section lock into that deep, 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:26.740 cutting butter groove we talked about. He smiled. 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:30.079 He just sat there, poised, and played those little 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.039 splank chords. He contrasted Webb's raw aggression 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:36.660 with... Absolute unshakable cool. And it worked. 00:17:36.859 --> 00:17:38.980 The dancers realized that while Chick Webb was 00:17:38.980 --> 00:17:41.660 incredibly impressive to watch, the Basie band 00:17:41.660 --> 00:17:44.440 was just better to dance to. The swing was deeper, 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:47.759 more hypnotic. So who won? While Webb was the 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:50.859 aggressor, the press, specifically Metronome 00:17:50.859 --> 00:17:53.619 magazine, declared Basie's band the conqueror. 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:56.380 They praised the musical science behind their 00:17:56.380 --> 00:17:58.779 swing. That moment solidified his status, didn't 00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:00.700 it? That was the moment he went from being a 00:18:00.700 --> 00:18:03.200 regional Kansas City hero to a national superstar. 00:18:03.619 --> 00:18:05.859 That victory at the Savoy proved that you didn't 00:18:05.859 --> 00:18:07.900 need to be the loudest or the fastest to be the 00:18:07.900 --> 00:18:10.799 best. You just had to swing the hardest. So Basie 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:13.460 wins the battle. He becomes a huge star through 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:17.660 the late 30s and early 40s. But then the world 00:18:17.660 --> 00:18:20.400 changes. The war, the musicians' union strike, 00:18:20.500 --> 00:18:23.420 changing tastes. And eventually, the economics 00:18:23.420 --> 00:18:25.859 of the big band just completely collapse. You 00:18:25.859 --> 00:18:27.700 can't afford to put 18 guys on a bus anymore. 00:18:28.250 --> 00:18:30.450 Basie actually has to disband the orchestra in 00:18:30.450 --> 00:18:32.730 1950. That must have felt like the end of an 00:18:32.730 --> 00:18:35.369 era. It was a very dark time for him and many 00:18:35.369 --> 00:18:38.230 others. The swing era was definitively over. 00:18:38.769 --> 00:18:41.789 Bebop was the new cool thing. And it was music 00:18:41.789 --> 00:18:44.569 for listening, for chin stroking, not for dancing. 00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:48.369 Small combos were cheaper. Basie found himself 00:18:48.369 --> 00:18:51.349 touring with a sextet, an octet, playing small 00:18:51.349 --> 00:18:53.990 clubs. For a lot of band leaders, this was the 00:18:53.990 --> 00:18:56.369 retirement phase. But Basie decides to double 00:18:56.369 --> 00:18:59.569 down. In 1952, he reforms the full 16 -piece 00:18:59.569 --> 00:19:02.029 orchestra. This is the beginning of the New Testament 00:19:02.029 --> 00:19:04.349 band. And I want to argue that this is actually 00:19:04.349 --> 00:19:06.630 the more impressive musical achievement. I agree 00:19:06.630 --> 00:19:08.529 with you completely. The Old Testament band was 00:19:08.529 --> 00:19:10.430 about lightning in a bottle. This is a collection 00:19:10.430 --> 00:19:12.849 of brilliant, one -of -a -kind soloists like 00:19:12.849 --> 00:19:15.410 Lester Young. The New Testament band was about 00:19:15.410 --> 00:19:17.980 the ensemble. That's it, exactly. The New Testament 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:20.380 band was a composer's band. He couldn't afford 00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:22.519 to have a band full of superstar soloists anymore, 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.220 so he made the band itself the superstar. He 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:27.859 hired brilliant young arrangers like Neil Hefti 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:30.859 and later Quincy Jones. And the precision of 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:34.839 this new group was, it was terrifying. This is 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:37.940 the Atomic Basie era, and the title of that album, 00:19:38.039 --> 00:19:41.059 The Atomic Mr. Basie, is perfect. The key to 00:19:41.059 --> 00:19:43.740 their sound was dynamic range. Explain that. 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:46.799 They perfected what became known as the bassy 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:49.759 crescendo. They would start a phrase at a whisper. 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:52.160 I mean, so quiet you could literally hear the 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:54.720 saxophone player's keys clicking. Wow. And then, 00:19:54.819 --> 00:19:57.480 in the space of a single beat, they would explode 00:19:57.480 --> 00:19:59.799 into a triple full paywall of sound that would 00:19:59.799 --> 00:20:01.839 knock you out of your seat. And just as quickly, 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:03.960 they would drop back down to a whisper. It's 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:06.220 the musical equivalent of a jump scare, but groovy. 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:08.859 It is shock and awe. It's all about control. 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:11.160 And the absolute masterpiece of this era, the 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:14.039 ultimate... test of that control is their recording 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:16.700 of neil hefty's little darling i was listening 00:20:16.700 --> 00:20:18.240 to little darling this morning in preparation 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.859 it is painfully slow it is tantalizingly slow 00:20:22.859 --> 00:20:25.740 and from a musician's perspective playing fast 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:29.160 is easy Playing that slow and keeping it perfectly 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:31.880 together with 16 other people, that is the hardest 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:34.319 thing you can possibly do. Why? Because there's 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.819 nowhere to hide. The horn players have to control 00:20:36.819 --> 00:20:38.859 their breath so there's not the slightest waver 00:20:38.859 --> 00:20:41.500 in the note. The drummer has to wait until the 00:20:41.500 --> 00:20:44.240 absolute last possible millisecond to hit the 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:46.740 beat, creating this incredible tension. The whole 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:49.039 thing could fall apart at any second. And Basie 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.940 introduces it on the piano with that famous halting. 00:20:52.879 --> 00:20:55.779 Sparse intro. That intro sets the rules for the 00:20:55.779 --> 00:20:57.839 whole performance. He is telling the audience, 00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:00.759 we are in no rush. You're on our time now. It's 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:03.220 the ultimate power move. In an era where rock 00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:04.799 and roll is starting to speed everything up, 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:08.259 Basie slows everything way down. You mentioned 00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:11.460 rock and roll. The 1950s is when Sinatra, Elvis, 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:13.859 Chuck Berry. They're taking over the culture. 00:21:14.140 --> 00:21:16.460 Basie survives by pivoting his business model 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:19.140 again. He becomes the premier backing band for 00:21:19.140 --> 00:21:21.319 the great vocalists. He hitched his star to the 00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:24.029 singers. He realized that if he couldn't be the 00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:26.410 pop star on the jukebox, he would back the pop 00:21:26.410 --> 00:21:29.700 stars. The collaboration with Frank Sinatra, 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:33.500 specifically the 1966 album Sinatra at the Sands, 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:36.900 is probably the definitive live album of that 00:21:36.900 --> 00:21:39.839 century. I love that album. Sinatra needed Basie. 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:42.740 Sinatra had all the swagger in the world, but 00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:45.680 Basie provided the raw power, the engine. You 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.920 can just hear Sinatra feeding off the energy 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:49.619 of that rhythm section. And he brought in the 00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:52.420 singer Joe Williams, which was a huge move. Joe 00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:55.019 Williams was absolutely critical. He was a classic 00:21:55.019 --> 00:21:57.859 blues shouter, but with this smooth. velvety 00:21:57.859 --> 00:21:59.519 voice, so you have Hicks like, every day I have 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:02.400 the blues, that allowed Basie to reconnect with 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:04.500 his core black audience who loved the blues. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:06.980 While the polished, sophisticated arrangements 00:22:06.980 --> 00:22:09.920 kept the white collegiate audience happy, it 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.200 was a perfect crossover strategy that kept the 00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:14.740 band working and relevant. I want to weave in 00:22:14.740 --> 00:22:16.700 a little of his personal life here, because I 00:22:16.700 --> 00:22:18.539 think it speaks to the stability he found in 00:22:18.539 --> 00:22:21.180 the 50s and 60s. He was making real money again. 00:22:21.579 --> 00:22:23.980 He moved his family out to Queens. To Addisley 00:22:23.980 --> 00:22:27.259 Park in St. Albans, yes. And this is a really 00:22:27.259 --> 00:22:30.039 significant part of Black American history. In 00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:33.059 1946, Basie and his wife Catherine moved into 00:22:33.059 --> 00:22:35.420 this neighborhood, which had been a restricted 00:22:35.420 --> 00:22:39.460 whites -only development. But Basie, along with 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:41.819 folks like Fats Waller and later Jackie Robinson 00:22:41.819 --> 00:22:44.579 and James Brown, they integrated it. It became 00:22:44.579 --> 00:22:47.759 this incredible, beautiful enclave of Black excellence 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:50.039 and success. It grounds him, doesn't it? The 00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:52.559 image we have. of the wild partying jazz musician 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:55.539 just doesn't fit him. No, he was a husband. He 00:22:55.539 --> 00:22:57.380 was a father to his daughter, Diane, who had 00:22:57.380 --> 00:23:00.019 cerebral palsy and he was devoted to her. He 00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:02.220 would come home from these world tours, go to 00:23:02.220 --> 00:23:04.220 his house in Queens, put on his slippers and 00:23:04.220 --> 00:23:06.779 just watch TV. He called himself a non -playing 00:23:06.779 --> 00:23:08.680 pianist when he was at home. Right. He loved 00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:11.140 Westerns. He loved comic books. And then in the 00:23:11.140 --> 00:23:14.059 60s, he adopted that trademark yachting cap. 00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:16.539 The yachting cap. It became his crown, didn't 00:23:16.539 --> 00:23:19.359 it? It absolutely did. As he aged, he took on 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:21.859 this elder. statesman persona, the cap, maybe 00:23:21.859 --> 00:23:24.660 a cigar, the slow, deliberate walk to the piano. 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:27.660 He became a living symbol of jazz survival. Which 00:23:27.660 --> 00:23:30.180 is probably why he has that amazing cameo in 00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:32.640 the movie Blazing Saddles. Playing April in Paris 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:34.720 in the middle of the desert while the posse rides 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:37.400 by. It's legendary. It showed he was in on the 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:40.019 joke, you know? He knew he'd become this living 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:42.279 monument. He had a great sense of humor. But 00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:44.380 let's circle back to the music one last time. 00:23:44.539 --> 00:23:47.259 We talked about the precision of the New Testament 00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:50.640 band. But Basie's own playing changed too. It 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:54.019 got even more minimal. He stripped it down even 00:23:54.019 --> 00:23:57.720 further. We need to talk about the splank. The 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:00.759 splank. The splank. It's an onomatopoeia for 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:03.319 his signature piano voicing. It's usually a high 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:06.180 dissonant three or four note chord played with 00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:09.099 a very sharp attack. Splank. And he would use 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:12.559 it so staringly. In the 50s and 60s, Basie would 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:15.160 sometimes go 32 bars without playing a single 00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:17.910 note. He would just sit there smiling, letting 00:24:17.910 --> 00:24:20.089 the bass and drums and Freddie Green run the 00:24:20.089 --> 00:24:23.430 show. Then, at the most pivotal moment of a soloist's 00:24:23.430 --> 00:24:26.950 phrase, he would just drop one splank. But isn't 00:24:26.950 --> 00:24:29.049 that, well, let me play devil's advocate here 00:24:29.049 --> 00:24:30.950 for a second. Is that genius or is that just 00:24:30.950 --> 00:24:33.910 being lazy? Or maybe just old? It is the absolute 00:24:33.910 --> 00:24:37.589 opposite of lazy. It requires immense mental 00:24:37.589 --> 00:24:40.869 discipline and focus. A lazy player noodles. 00:24:41.490 --> 00:24:44.650 A lazy player fills every empty space because 00:24:44.650 --> 00:24:47.140 they're insecure. Silence makes them nervous. 00:24:47.420 --> 00:24:50.839 OK. Basie was editing in real time. He was listening 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.299 to the chaotic conversation of 16 instruments 00:24:53.299 --> 00:24:56.039 and saying, I will only speak when my comment 00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:59.359 clarifies the entire sentence. That one chord 00:24:59.359 --> 00:25:02.279 would reset the band. It would outline the harmony 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:04.279 for the soloist and it would kick the rhythm 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:06.740 section in the pants all at the same time. It's 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:08.539 the editor in chief approach to piano playing. 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:10.460 Exactly. He wasn't the writer anymore. He was 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:12.980 the editor. And in a world of increased noise, 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:16.950 the editor is often the most. You know, that 00:25:16.950 --> 00:25:19.309 brings us right back to the core insight of this 00:25:19.309 --> 00:25:21.210 whole deep dive. We called it leadership through 00:25:21.210 --> 00:25:24.710 listening. When I look at Basie's career, 50 00:25:24.710 --> 00:25:27.329 years of managing difficult personalities, changing 00:25:27.329 --> 00:25:30.250 musical trends, financial pressures, he never 00:25:30.250 --> 00:25:32.230 seemed to panic. He never screamed at anyone. 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:34.750 There's a famous story that if a musician in 00:25:34.750 --> 00:25:36.890 the band was playing badly or stepping out of 00:25:36.890 --> 00:25:39.849 line, Basie wouldn't fire them. He wouldn't yell 00:25:39.849 --> 00:25:41.869 at them after the show. What would he do? He 00:25:41.869 --> 00:25:44.069 would just play a little repetitive, annoying 00:25:44.069 --> 00:25:46.829 musical figure on the piano during their solo 00:25:46.829 --> 00:25:49.289 that mimicked their mistake. He would gently 00:25:49.289 --> 00:25:51.309 mock them musically in front of everyone. The 00:25:51.309 --> 00:25:53.769 musician would get the message immediately. That 00:25:53.769 --> 00:25:57.269 is quietly devastating. It is. But it was effective, 00:25:57.450 --> 00:26:00.789 and it kept the vibe loose. He treated his musicians 00:26:00.789 --> 00:26:03.730 like adults. He gave them space look at how he 00:26:03.730 --> 00:26:06.180 treated Freddie Green. He let Freddie Green be 00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:08.259 the boss of the rhythm. He let the arrangers 00:26:08.259 --> 00:26:10.839 be the boss of the notes. Basie was simply the 00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:13.039 boss of the vibe. He managed the culture of the 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:15.920 band. That's it. And that culture outlived him. 00:26:16.059 --> 00:26:19.119 Basie died in 1984, but the Count Basie Orchestra 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:21.740 is still touring the world today. They're essentially 00:26:21.740 --> 00:26:24.920 a classical institution now, like the New York 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:27.000 Philharmonic. And they still value that sound. 00:26:27.220 --> 00:26:29.339 And they still play the splank. They still play 00:26:29.339 --> 00:26:32.619 one o 'clock jump. Because Basie created a system, 00:26:32.700 --> 00:26:35.329 a philosophy, that was bigger than himself. He 00:26:35.329 --> 00:26:37.569 built a machine that runs on swing. And as long 00:26:37.569 --> 00:26:39.289 as you have a drummer who can work a hi -hat 00:26:39.289 --> 00:26:41.809 and guitarist who can play four steady quarter 00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.690 notes, that machine will run forever. So for 00:26:44.690 --> 00:26:47.289 the listener who maybe only knows Basie from 00:26:47.289 --> 00:26:49.369 the Sinatra records or maybe Fly Me to the Moon, 00:26:49.549 --> 00:26:51.549 where should they start if they want to really 00:26:51.549 --> 00:26:54.269 hear what we've been talking about today? I would 00:26:54.269 --> 00:26:57.220 say listen to two tracks back to back. First, 00:26:57.440 --> 00:26:59.819 listen to Lester Leaps In from the Old Testament 00:26:59.819 --> 00:27:03.440 era in 1939. Hear that raw Kansas City small 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.079 group energy. Hear the duel between Lester Young 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:09.279 and Basie. Then, immediately after, listen to 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:11.700 Little Darling from the Atomic Mr. Basie album 00:27:11.700 --> 00:27:15.359 from 1957. Listen for the dynamic control. Listen 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:17.960 to how impossibly quiet they get. If you can 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:20.019 really hear and appreciate the difference between 00:27:20.019 --> 00:27:22.220 those two incredible tracks, you understand the 00:27:22.220 --> 00:27:24.859 genius and the evolution of Count Basie. And 00:27:24.859 --> 00:27:27.109 listen to the guitar. Make it a project. Try 00:27:27.109 --> 00:27:29.289 to pick out Freddie Green's Chunk Chunk in the 00:27:29.289 --> 00:27:32.170 background. Yes. Once you hear it, you can never 00:27:32.170 --> 00:27:35.049 unhear it in any song. It's the heartbeat of 00:27:35.049 --> 00:27:36.950 the last century of popular music. It really 00:27:36.950 --> 00:27:39.990 is. So to wrap this up, I think our final thought 00:27:39.990 --> 00:27:42.890 has to be about this idea of leadership through 00:27:42.890 --> 00:27:46.569 listening. Basie was almost never the loudest 00:27:46.569 --> 00:27:49.230 player in his own band. He let the saxophones 00:27:49.230 --> 00:27:51.829 duel. He let the drummer drive. He let the trumpets 00:27:51.829 --> 00:27:54.970 scream. He just intervened with a single note. 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:59.259 or a single cord to steer the ship. In a world 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:02.559 of loud egos both then and now, Basie proved 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:04.740 that the person doing the least amount of talking 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:07.619 is often the one who is in total control. Power 00:28:07.619 --> 00:28:10.019 and subtlety, a great lesson. Thanks for diving 00:28:10.019 --> 00:28:11.579 in with us on this one. Keep listening, keep 00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:13.119 swinging, and we'll see you on the next one.