BASIE, WILLIAM (BILL
, COUNT
). Jazz pianist/Bandleader ( in Red Bank, New Jersey). He first studied music with his mother, a pianist, then later with a local teacher. Later he studied organ (1921) with
Thomas (Fats
) Waller
in New York. He began his professional career playing in clubs in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and in New York; he then toured for several years as an accompanist with vaudeville shows, among them
Kate Crippen
and Her Kids (c1923), the and Her Kids (c1923), the ...