Jazz Library

Saxophonist and author Dave Gelly joins Alyn Shipton to suggest the essential Count Basie band recordings, tracing it from its Kansas City origins through to the revolutionary New Testament band of the 1950s, including such classics as One O'Clock Jump and Li'l Darlin'. Basie led his famous orchestra for more than 50 years, and in its long history it grew to being regarded as a byword for the qualities of swing and the blues.