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| Legendary Count Basie Orchestra Announces New Management In agreement with the Trust of William J. Basie and for the first time since 1984, the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra is under new management. Artist Management Productions, LLC will represent the Count Basie Orchestra with its new management team including Bill Hughes, Director; Dee Askew, Booking Manager; Clarence Banks, Manager; Doug Lawrence, Operations Director. "The Count Basie Orchestra has continued to tour consistently over the past 74 years and now, thanks to our new management team, we have even more tour dates in 2010, " said Hughes, long-time orchestra member. William "Count" Basie started the Count Basie Orchestra(tm) in 1935 in Kansas City, Missouri. Within one year, America was listening in on popular radio shows throughout the country to hear what would become "the swingingest band in all the land." A phenomenon that was born in 1935 still continues today. Since Basie's passing in 1984, Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Grover Mitchell and now, Bill Hughes (who joined Basie in 1953) have led the Count Basie Orchestra and maintained it as one of the elite performing organizations in jazz. The Count Basie Orchestra(tm) has won 17 Grammy Awards and 20 Downbeat and JazzTimes polls-more than any other big band in jazz. They are currently nominated along with Tony Bennett for the Best Traditional Pop Album of 2009, "A Swinging Christmas: Tony Bennett and the Count Basie Band." The Orchestra plans to record a new CD in the coming months to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Count Basie Orchestra and touring begins in California and Japan at the end of January. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |