A tribute to Count Basie at the Blue Note

Count Basie (pictured) was a true innovator, leading the big band that bears his name for nearly half a century and recording over 480 albums: the first African-American musician to win a Grammy Award, a living legend to this day. Paolo Tomelleri , world-famous clarinetist, and the Civica Jazz Orchestra, composed of some of the best students of the Civici Corsi di Jazz della Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, will perform the instrumental pieces from the repertoire of Count Basie's famous big band in the original arrangements by trumpeters Neal Hefti and Thad Jones and saxophonist Frank Foster, as well as in the vocal arrangements by Foster himself and pianist and composer Bob Florence, taken from the album recorded with the presence of American singer Diane Schuur.

See you tonight at the Blue Note for a tribute to Count Basie (double set at 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., tickets from 17 to 32 euros, pre-sale online on the Blue Note Milano website). Meanwhile Luca Missiti, coordinator of the civic jazz courses, says: "It's a pleasure to return to the Blue Note to lead the Civic Jazz Orchestra with that wonderful musician who answers to the name of Tomelleri, probably the most suitable of all to interpret the swing repertoire that the brilliant Count Basie left us as a legacy".

Known as the " King of Swing ," Basie is considered one of the greatest conductors of all time, helping define the sound of the big bands of the 1930s and 1940s.

The Count Basie Orchestra was the most famous expression of swing: Basie and his musicians "duelted" with the Duke Ellington Orchestra for the scepter of the best American swing band.

Grace Lissi

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