William James "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, plunger trombonist Al Grey, and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams.
The Ink Spots were an American vocal pop group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style predated the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely accepted in both the white and black communities, largely due to the ballad style introduced to the group by lead singer Bill Kenny.
Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also led his own band. He lived in Europe for the last 26 years of his life.
McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an American jazz band, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1926, and led by William McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten players. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney on drums, with the latter becoming the band's manager. Between 1927 and 1931, they were one of the most popular African American bands. Many of their records for Victor were bestsellers.
Andrew Dewey Kirk was an American jazz bandleader and saxophonist who led the Twelve Clouds of Joy, a band popular during the swing era.
The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music performers and remained popular through the years. Since 1933, through many changes in membership, the Sons of the Pioneers have remained one of the longest-surviving country music vocal groups.
Frederick Alfred Martin was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist.
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16- to 18-piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 1950s, the band survived long past the big band era itself and the death of Basie in 1984. It continues under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart.
Harry Roy was a British dance band leader and clarinet player from the 1920s to the 1960s. He performed several songs with suggestive lyrics, including "My Girl's Pussy" (1931), and "She Had to Go and Lose It at the Astor" (1939).
Edward Heywood Jr. was an American jazz pianist and composer particularly active in the 1940s and 1950s.
Russell Morgan was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for being one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock and James Cavanaugh, and was the first to record it in 1944.
Herschel "Tex" Evans was an American tenor saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. He also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton. He is also known for starting his cousin Joe McQueen's interest in the saxophone. Joe McQueen, living until 2019 at age 100, may well have been the last surviving person to have known Herschel during his lifetime.
Benny Morton was an American jazz trombonist, most associated with the swing genre.
James Henry Jones was an American jazz pianist and arranger.
Tiger, a children’s record, was Frank Buck’s last recorded performance. The story was adapted by "Peter Steele" and Hecky Krasnow. In fact, Krasnow often wrote under two names, Peter Steele and Hecky Krasno, dropping the "w." In Tiger Krasnow combined two animals from two stories in Bring 'Em Back Alive:
The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards is an album by vocalist Joe Williams and pianist/bandleader Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded in 1956 and released on the Verve label. It was Williams' second album with Basie following Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings.
Spencer Odom was a pianist-arranger who conducted the music for the Frank Buck recording Tiger.
Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller is a seventh studio album by blues, R&B and jazz singer Dinah Washington released on the Emarcy label, and reissued by Verve Records in 1990 as The Fats Waller Songbook. In the album Washington covers 12 songs that have been penned or performed by jazz pianist, organist, singer and songwriter Fats Waller. Allmusic details the album in its review as saying: "Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller appropriately brings together Waller's vivacious songs and Washington's demonstrative vocal talents. The jazz diva effortlessly handles Waller classics while turning in particularly emotive renditions. Adding nice variety to the already strong set, Washington's husband at the time, saxophonist Eddie Chamblee, joins the singer for playful duets on "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Everybody Loves My Baby".
Jerry "Buck" Jerome was an American jazz and big band musician, a tenor saxophonist. He played with Glenn Miller, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.
Clarence M. Jones was an American pianist and composer who worked in jazz, ragtime, and other popular music genres. He was known as the 'Sultan of Syncopation'.
