Dec. 19, 2008
Count Basie Orchestra coming to
Stevens Point
The world famous Count Basie Orchestra will perform in
Stevens Point on Friday, February 6, 2009, in conjunction
with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Jazz Festival.
The performance will be held at the Stevens Point Area High
School (SPASH) Auditorium beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $22 for adults and $15 for students and now
available at the University Information and Tickets Office
in the Dreyfus University Center, by calling 715-346-4100
or 800-838-3378 or ordering online
at
www.uwsp.edu/centers/uit/ordering.asp.
Visa, MasterCard and Discover are accepted.
The UWSP Jazz Festival invites area middle, junior and high
school jazz ensembles and combos to UWSP for a day of clinics
and classes led by UWSP faculty and guest clinicians from
Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. Attendees will be offered
special rates to attend a performance of the Count Basie
Orchestra, either at SPASH at 7:30 p.m. or at UWSP’s Michelsen
Hall at noon. Attendees will also be invited to a question and
answer period with the orchestra following their Michelsen Hall
performance.
The Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Bill Hughes, is named for
William “The Count” Basie, a New Jersey native who was a giant in
the Big Band era of the 1930s and 40s. A pianist, he ended up in
Kansas City while working the national vaudeville circuit and
joined Walter Page’s Blue Devils known then as The Benny Moten
Orchestra.
Basie became the band leader when Moten died in 1935 and took the
name “The Count” when his new group headlined at Kansas City’s
Reno Club. The Count Basie Orchestra had rapid success and Basie’s
signature closing “plink, plink, plink” on the piano became the
band’s claim to fame. Recording contracts and radio airtime followed.
In the 50s the group took its sound to Europe and continued touring
throughout the world into the 60s and beyond.
Today the orchestra includes 18 performers, some handpicked by Basie
himself. The group is in demand for world tours and recordings and
continues to win awards and special recognitions including 17 Grammy
Awards.
Hughes joined the band in 1953 as a self-taught trombonist. He has
traveled the world with the orchestra, including its first trip to
Europe. Hughes has played at every major jazz festival in the world
and made numerous recordings with Basie and the orchestra. He has also
performed for royalty and appeared in two movies with Basie.
For more information about the performance or UWSP Jazz Festival,
contact Mathew Buchman at 715-346-4054.
