William Count Basie: Accompanist Influences Of The Swing Era

William "Count" Basie was a famous pianist, composer, arranger, and band leader. He was one of the biggest influences of the swing era with his big band style. Basie was respected as much by musicians as audiences. He learned to play piano from his mother as a child. He later ventured away from home to study along fats Waller a student of Harlem Stride School. He made his professional debut as an accompanist for vaudeville acts and replaced Waller in an act called Katie Crippen and her Kids. He toured on the Toba vaudeville circuits as a solo pianist, and music director for singers and dancers. He also worked with June Clark and Sonny Greer who was later to become Duke Ellington’s drummer. He was a part of Walter Pages’s Blue Devils in 1928