Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

July 17, 2008 issue

The World-Famous Count Basie Orchestra
Performs July 23The World-Famous Count Basie Orchestra performs at Farthing Auditorium on Wednesday, July 23, as part of An Appalachian Summer Festival.


The swinging sounds of big band come to An Appalachian Summer Festival when The World-Famous Count Basie Orchestra performs at Farthing Auditorium on Wednesday, July 23, at 8:00 p.m. The concert is presented with the support of Bonnie and Jamie Schaefer.

Bill “Mr. B” Hughes, who turned down the Duke Ellington Orchestra to join Basie’s group in 1953, leads the orchestra that continues the work of the legendary William “Count” Basie. A self-taught trombonist with an impressive solo career, Hughes has performed with The Count Basie Orchestra for all of their major accomplishments, including performances on stage and screen, two Royal Command Performances for Queen Elizabeth II and the inaugurations of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

The Count Basie Orchestra consists of 19 performers, 17 sidemen and a vocalist—dedicated performers who, like Hughes, have grown up with the Kansas City swing style of Count Basie.

One of the most thriving big bands in history, the orchestra celebrates the big band experience through the completely original and unmistakable Count Basie repertoire. The Count Basie Orchestra has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, and continues to accumulate awards and recognition. To date, the orchestra claims 17 Grammy Awards. While some members may be new, the sound itself still swings from musicians handpicked by the Count himself.

A Red Bank, N.J. native, Basie grew up with the tempos of the Swing Era in New York City, but toward the end of the Roaring ‘20s, Kansas City began drawing notice for a new, wide-open style of jazz. Basie landed in Kansas City while working as pianist with The Benny Moten Orchestra. When Moten passed away in 1935, Basie became the bandleader.

In 1935, within months of The Count Basie Orchestra’s live radio debut, the group had a recording contract and regular radio airtime that popularized the band from coast to coast. Post-war artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra exported the swinging Basie Sound to Europe and the Far East. Basie’s orchestra withstood the Korean War and economic lull of the 1950s, as well as the declared “death” of big band swing in the 1960s, and it continues to thrive.

In 2007, Down Beat magazine’s Readers Poll named the orchestra the Best Big Band.

Tickets to the performance are $25 or $18 for adults, $15 or $10 for students and $10 or $5 for children 12 and under. For tickets and information, call 800-841-ARTS(2787) or 828-262-4046 or click to www.appsummer.org.

Want To Go?
Date: Wednesday, July 23
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Farthing Auditorium, ASU
Cost: $25 or $18 adults/$15 or $10 students/$10 or $5 children 12 and under