Count Basie
21 August 1904 — 26 April 1984
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, his minimalist piano style, and others.
A memorial on Digital Cemetery, an endless map you can explore. This grave stands at coordinates 33, -54.
More historical figures on Digital Cemetery:
- Lev Landau
- Albert Roussel
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Alexander Borodin
- Henrietta Swan Leavitt
- Rainer Maria Rilke
- Benjamin Franklin
- Joan of Austria, Princess of Portugal
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Pyotr Kropotkin
- Herman Hollerith
- Fernando Pessoa
- Igor Tamm
- Domenico Cimarosa
- Irving Langmuir
- Agnès Varda
- Samuel de Champlain
- Marius Petipa
- Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Niels Henrik Abel
- Margaret of Parma
- Catherine the Great
- Gabriela Mistral
- Richard Willstätter