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, an American jazz pianist and bandleader, lived from 1904 to 1984. Basie was a leading musician of the swing era (1930s and early 1940s). Basie led one of the first jazz big bands, which featured a number of outstanding soloists and arrangers ....

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... were usually played as a background for soloists. Another musical hallmark of the Basie style is its reliance on the blues, both blues chord progressions and blue notes, certain flatted notes in a musical scale. After World War II ended in 1945, changes in the economy and in Americans’ musical tastes sent most of the big bands into commercial decline. Eventually, the changed economic realities of touring with a band affected Basie, and in 1950 he was forced to dissolve his large ensemble. For a time he toured with a small group of six to nine players, but by 1952, he had reassembled his big band. This time, written arrangements were normal, ...