NUJE - November 12, 2026

About this event

NU Jazz Ensemble

All About That Basie

Darius Hampton, conductor

Pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer William James “Count” Basie left an indelible mark on the jazz world with his Count Basie Orchestra and standards including “Blue and Sentimental,” “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” and “One O’Clock Jump.” Influenced early in his career by Willie “the Lion” Smith, Fats Waller, and Bennie Moten, he went on to assemble a band including such talents as Lester Young, Freddie Green, Walter Page, and Dickie Wells. He showcased legendary singers Billie Holiday, Big Joe Turner, and Helen Humes, and in the wake of the big band era, his band played for Queen Elizabeth II and a John F. Kennedy Inaugural Ball. The Jazz Ensemble celebrates the artist who declared, “I think the band can really swing when it swings easy , when it can just play along like you are cutting butter.”

From Northwestern University - Bienen School of Music