THE COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA Kansas City`s Reno Club was the setting for live radio broadcasts of THE COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA within month of its 1935 debut. Jazz critic JOHN HAMMOND heard these programs and was so impressed that he prevailed up Music Corporation of America to sign them, thus bringing BASIE back to Manhattan in 1936. A recording contract with Decca came next… and as the decade closed, a combination of radio airtime and records had popularised the band from coast to coast. They played the 1939 World’s Fair in San Francisco. They were in demand across the land. They would usher in the 1940´s attracting wonderful soloists and bigger crowds.Post-war film appearances and recordings on the new hi-fi LP discs” with ELLA FITZGERALD, SARAH VOUGHN, JOE WILLIAMS, TONY BENETT & FRANK SINATRA exported the swinging “Basie Sound” to Europe and the Far East. The demand for records and live appearances became international. By the 1950`s the Korean War and economic lull sent the call for “Big Bands” into a decline. However, while other bands were downsizing and vanishing… THE COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA triumphed with European concert tours, a Command Performance for the Queen of England, and a sold out 13-week Waldorf-Astoria engagement. By the 1960`s, pundits declared the big band officially dead! All except the COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA! More European and Southeast Asian tours, regular television & Las Vegas appearances, and crowded schedules of playing dates across North America set a pace that continues unabated. THE COUNT BASIE OCHESTRA of TODAY is nineteen performers committed to upholding and advancing this ´´American Institution``. Some members are new, yet the majority of the sound still swing form musicians hand-picked by Count Basie himself. They are in demand for television and films, have won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, and continue to accumulate awards and special recognitions.