Count Basie, 1938 - 1984

Series 1 includes materials documenting Count Basie’s career as a musician and bandleader, his personal interests, and the relationships he had with other performers, fans, businesses and music industry professionals, educational institutions, and government entities. Materials focus on Basie’s professional activities and date primarily from the period between the 1950s until Basie’s death in 1984.

Of particular note in subseries 1 are three incomplete tour expense notebooks from 1939, 1956, and 1967; a Fitch Bandwagon radio script dating to 1939; promotional materials for concerts and recordings, including an illustrated Columbia Records booklet dating to sometime between the late 1930s and mid-1940s; a menu from Count Basie’s 1964 performance with Frank Sinatra at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas; materials from the Kennedy Center when Count Basie was awarded honors in 1981; the guest list to the Royal Salute to Count Basie on his 70th birthday; and concert programs from “The Concert” in 1975 (featuring Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra), the Basie band’s 1969 tour to Buenos Aires, and the 1957 and 1975 programs from Count Basie’s “Royal Performance in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen.”

Among the awards in subseries 2 are jazz poll results from magazines and music journals, including five awards from the Playboy Magazine All-Star Jazz Poll and Melody Maker’s award recognizing the Basie Orchestra as a “Top Ten Big Band” in 1963. The subseries also includes The Revue Jazz-Hot Gran Prix du Disque honor in 1960 for the album Atomic Mr. Basie and a 1981 Presidential Inaugural Committee Certificate of Appreciation for the Count Basie Orchestra’s performance at Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. The subseries also includes the National Academy of Recording Artists’ nomination for a GRAMMY Award in 1982 and Count Basie’s 1943 membership certificate for the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. Plaques and trophies in this subseries have not yet been arranged and described.

Subseries 3 consists primarily of unsolicited arrangements and lead sheets sent to Count Basie for review. A notable exception is the full manuscript score for Sammy Nestico’s “C.B. Hits Folio.” Several accompanying or related audio recordings are included in series 7, identified and cross-referenced in both series with an enclosed note.

Subseries 4 contains both unpublished writings by and about Count Basie, including his manuscript draft autobiography, Good Morning Blues, and related notes, as well as publications about and inscribed to him in the form of books, drafts, periodicals, essays, written speeches, and pamphlets. In addition to titles in the folder list, periodicals include El Coqui, Crescendo, Down Beat, Ebony, Estrad, Hep, Hue, International Musician, Jazz Forum, Jazz Greatest, Jazz Magazine, Jazz Journal, Jazz Review, Jazz Times, Jet, Music USA, Orchestra World, and Schlagzeug: Das Jazz Magazin. Most duplicate copies of publications already in Institute of Jazz Studies collections were removed from the collection. The separation list provides a detailed listing of these titles. Published loose clippings about Count Basie can be found in Series 6.

Subseries 5, Ephemera and Memorabilia, includes materials Count Basie collected or kept, including jazz calendars, programs from events he attended, and items connected to horse racing. This subseries also contains some of the only documentation in the collection of Basie’s Lounge, the Basies’ Harlem nightclub.

Subseries 6, Artwork, is comprised of drawings, prints, posters, and paintings featuring Count Basie, created by fans and/or professional artists.