No other musician was ever more committed to the proposition of stomping, shouting, swinging, jumping and dragging away the blues than Count Basie was. Basie led one of the most enduring swing bands of all time. In Count Basie - Swingin’ the Blues, a distinguished group of Basie alumni - including early band stars Harry “Sweets” Edison, Earle Warren and Claude Williams, and later stars like Illinois Jacquet, Buddy Tate and Joe Williams - lends their insights. Vintage performance footage from the 1930s onwards and master recordings of the greatest Basie sessions abound in this documentary. Basie-alumni and contemporaries, such as Harry “Sweets” Edison, Al Grey, Illinois Jacquet, Jay McShann, Buddy Tate, Earle Warren, Claude Willliams, Joe Williams, and Albert Murray, offer their first-hand perspectives.
