(Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Red Bankers will have a chance to celebrate their town’s most famous son, jazz icon William “Count” Basie in grand fashion this weekend, as his namesake theater honors his birthday – and its own centennial – with three days of Basie Band boogie.
The three performances (one of them free of charge) by the Count Basie Orchestra are part of the Count Basie Center for the Arts’ ongoing celebration of the anniversary of the main theater’s opening in 1926. They also coincide with the musician’s anniversary of Basie’s birth in Red Bank on August 21, 1904.
There’s the free performance on Friday, August 21; another $19.26 concert inside the Basie Center’s historic theater on Saturday, August 22, and accompanying Broadway stars and Tony Award winners Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara for a concert on Sunday evening, August 23.
The Friday free performance, originally slated to be held outdoors, has been moved indoors.
Tickets for the August 22 and 23 concerts are on sale at thebasie.org, the Basie Center box office and Ticketmaster. Here’s a detailed rundown.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21
The 122nd anniversary of Basie’s birthday – the Basie Center will hold a free public celebration with a performance by the Basie orchestra. The event will also feature the unveiling of a marker designating the Count Basie Center for the Arts as an official stop on New Jersey’s Black Heritage Trail, a statewide initiative established in 2022 by the New Jersey Historical Commission to promote awareness and appreciation of Black history, heritage, and culture. The event begins at 11 am.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22
The world-renowned Count Basie Orchestra will perform at the Basie Center’s Hackensack MeridianHealth Theatre, marking the band’s first Basie Center performance in more than a decade. All tickets will be priced at $19.26 – the year our historic theater at 99 Monmouth Street first opened its doors.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
Tony Award® winners Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes) and Kelli O’Hara (The King and I, The Bridges of Madison County) take the Basie Center stage on Sunday, August 23, accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra.
The Basie Center’s William “Count” Basie Birthday Weekend has become an annual event to celebrate the Red Bank native, one of the biggest icons of jazz and American popular culture. It’s the second time the organization has honored Basie during its Centennial Celebration; last September, Basie became the first star enshrined onto the venue’s Walk Of Fame.
The Count Basie Center thanks Senator Vin Gopal, Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul and Assemblywoman Margie Donlan M.D. for their support of the Count Basie Center, its Centennial Celebration and the William “Count” Basie Birthday Weekend.
1955 Photo of Count Basie by James J. Kriegsmann
William Basie was born at 229 Mechanic Street on August 21, 1904.
His father, Harvey Lee Basie, was a coachman and caretaker; his mother, Lillian Childs Basie, was a laundress, taking in washing and ironing. The Basie family kept a piano in their home, and it’s said that Ms. Basie always made sure to set aside .25 cents for William to take weekly lessons. As a teenager, Basie found work doing odd jobs at Red Bank’s now-defunct Palace Theatre. On the afternoon the Palace’s house pianist failed to show for work, Basie offered to fill in – but was denied.
Nonetheless persistent, the young Basie waited for the film to start, crept into the orchestra pit, and accompanied the film anyway. He was invited back to perform that evening.
The rest, they say, is history.
The man who would become known as “The Kid From Red Bank” relocated to the jazz hot spot of Kansas City, MO and began his ascent to fame.
His Count Basie Orchestra performed worldwide to audiences that included kings, queens and presidents, with the ensemble’s dizzying, energetic sound becoming the stuff of legend. The Basie Orchestra’s recordings – including “One O’Clock Jump,” “Jumpin’ At the Woodside,” “Taxi War Dance,” and “Lester Leaps In,” marked the peak of the Kansas City sound.
In 1983, Basie made his last performance at what was once known as the Carlton Theatre / Monmouth Arts Center, just nine days removed from the death of his second wife, Catherine, with whom he had been married 43 years. A year later, Basie succumbed to cancer at the age of 79, and was buried in Pine Lawn Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.
In November 1984, the Monmouth Arts Center was renamed to honor Basie, then wholly recognized as Red Bank’s most famous son.
Today, Basie’s name presides over the entirety of the not-for-profit Count Basie Center for the Arts, whose stated mission is to inspire, educate and entertain through its distinct and engaging cultural and artistic offerings that embrace and amplify the diversity of the region.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
