Count Basie Paints A Picture Of The Birth Of The Blues

[Gandalfe]

From Boing, Boing: "Here's Count Basie on the Jazz Casual TV program from 1968. Basie paints a picture of Kansas City and Harlem in the golden age, then dispels it with a laugh like the smoke from his cigarette. "So, uh... Where were we?"

Count Basie Paints A Picture Of The Birth Of The Blues (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/15/count-basie-paints-a.html)

[Dave Dolson]

That was sweet. So simple - should be part of the Why Isn't jazz Popular- thread.

It made me go back into my iTunes and listen to Jelly Roll Morton's Library of Congress interviews of 1939. During those interviews by Alan Lomax, Jelly performed a tune called "Mamie's Blues" named for Mamie Desdume. It has an alternate title of "2:19 Blues". Wonderful-yet-simple changes in Jelly's intro and exit phrasing. DAVE

[sideC]

Wow. That looks like one of the greats on the drums, Oliver Jackson. Freddie Green, of course, on guitar, and I can't place the bassist.

We used to watch "Jazz Casual" every week, it aired on a weekday afternoon just as my brother and I got home from school. Ralph Gleason was a very hip jazz critic based in San Francisco, and it's simply amazing that his show ran for seven years.

"Hand Full Of Keys" is a HARD tune. Basie nailed it.

Julian