The Count Basie Orchestra is a "big band phenomenon that has become a tradition. Their unique sound, combining blues and swing with an intensity and rhythm all their own, is and always has been immediately recognizable. For over half a century they have been generating thrills in concert halls, universities, nightclubs and festivals around the globe. Like the immortal Louis Armstrong, they have become our goodwill ambassadors, representing the jazz idiom to delighted audiences everywhere.

When Basie passed away in 1984, the guys decided to stay together and their saxophonist/arranger Frank Foster led the group for a number of years, followed by trombonist Grover Mitchell. Recently another alumni trombonist, Bill Hughes, was called upon to take the director spot. In just a short time Hughes has shaped the Basie orchestra into a crack team that combines the Basie sound with just a touch of modernism in the arrangements. The orchestra creates both nostalgic joy and rocking sound for their audiences, with traditional charts, some newer ones and state-of-the-art solos by every musician in the 17-piece ensemble. Bill has maintained the Basie tradition while at the same time bringing in his own unique qualities as a leader and musical force. The combination of old timers from the original band and young guys with a real flair for their instruments assures continuity while keeping the band up-to-date in today's competitive jazz scene.

When I heard the band at the Kimmel Center in May (2005), their thrilling performance got me off my seat and backstage to ask Bill if he would do an interview for All About Jazz. He was delighted to do so. Bill is a guy who comes across as easygoing, warm and friendly, yet totally aware of everything going on around him at every moment. It was a pleasure to interview him. I am sure you will enjoy reading the interview as much as I did speaking with him.

Index

Introduction
Bill Hughes, The Trombonists and joining the Basie Band
The Evolution of the Basie Sound
The Good Old Times
Getting Up To Date
One More Time: A Summing Up

All About Jazz: Ready to go?

Bill Hughes: I'm ready to go when you're ready to go. By the way, your review of the Kimmel concert was great, man.

AAJ: Thanks, Bill. First we'll go back to the past, then talk about the Basie Orchestra today.

BH: Sort of a chronological line.

AAJ: Right. By the way, Count Basie's autobiography, Good Morning, Blues, which you recommended to me, is a fabulous book. Thanks for turning me on to it. Also, a propos of your instrument, I'm a former trombonist myself. I studied with Alan Raph in New York.

BH: Oh, yes. I know Alan. He's had a great career.

AAJ: Let's start out with the usual warmup question. If you were going to be on a desert island, which recordings would you take with you?

BH: Gustav Mahler. There's something about his music that keeps me locked on the whole time the orchestra is playing.

AAJ: I too appreciate Mahler's music. The connection between jazz and classical influences runs deep. Charlie Parker and the bebop generation were turned on by Stravinsky, for example.

BH: That's true.

AAJ: What about jazz recordings?

BH: I was a great J.J. Johnson lover. Early on, I tried to fashion my phrases after J.J. He came up a few years before me and was very innovative as to the way he was phrasing, as if he had a valve instrument rather than a slide. That affected me greatly. And he was also able to manipulate that thing very fast and, of course, I tried to hook onto that too. He was one of my main heroes.

AAJ: J.J. and I became friends in his last years.

BH: Well, I became a friend of his, too, and although I never got a chance to work with him I had many conversations with him. He meant a lot to me. By the way, are you still playing, Schermer?

AAJ: No, I'm too much of a perfectionist. I don't have time enough to keep my chops up.

BH: I understand.

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Bill Hughes, The Trombonists and joining the Basie Band

AAJ: Speaking of the trombone, why did you choose to play bass trombone rather than tenor?

BH: That's a whole other story. The first time I joined the Basie band, I was playing tenor trombone. That was in 1953. Basie had three trombones and, even on those occasions when he used four, it was all tenor trombones. Even before I left in 1957 he was saying he wanted to go to four trombones and he wished that one would be a bass. As it happened, Benny Powell was playing a modified tenor with the F attachment. He was playing a lot of those lower notes we couldn't play on the tenor trombones, so he set the standard for the sound. Then when I came back to the band in 1963, after about a year or so Basie said he'd like me or Grover Mitchell - did you ever meet Grover?

AAJ: No.

BH: Basie wanted one of us - Grover or me - to play the lead and the other to play the bass trombone. I jumped on it and said, "Yeah, I'll play the bass trombone, Chief! I didn't know what I was getting into, but I jumped on it anyhow.

AAJ: Was that you on the famous recording of "April in Paris?

BH: I was on the recording, but Benny Powell played the solo.

AAJ: You played the bass trombone?

BH: No, I was playing tenor.

AAJ: What trombone are you playing now?

BH: A Holton bass trombone. Because when I took over the directorship of the Basie band, I was playing bass, so I just carried it forward to the present.

AAJ: How did you originally get connected to the Basie band? That was 1953?

BH: Yes. Well, I had played previously with guys like Frank Wess, Benny Powell and Eddie Jones, the bassist. I was recommended by Frank Wess. I was living in Washington, D.C., where Wess and Eddie lived at the time. Basie called and I didn't believe it was him! In fact, I had studied pharmacy at Howard University and was working at the National Health Institute. When Basie called I first thought he was a practical joker. I had been married a little over a year and had a kid. I told my wife, somebody's pulling my leg! Wants me to join the Basie band! And he called me back two hours later and said, "I want to give you some information about the rehearsals. I said, "Are you really Count Basie? He said, "Yeah! The guys recommended you for an opening I have on trombone. I'd like you to come up and rehearse with the band and let me hear what you got.

So, I went up and rehearsed in New York with the band - I told my wife, I don't think I'm gonna make it, be back in a couple of days. At the time, there was a place called Nola Studios at 49th Street and Broadway. I sat in with the band there. Basie seemed to be satisfied with what I was doing, so he said, "I'd like you to come back and work with the band at the Savoy Ballroom the day after tomorrow. I went back to D.C., grabbed my stuff and told my wife, I'd probably be back in a week or so, and we played the Savoy - which was the last time Basie played there. They closed shortly after that.

AAJ: Where was the Savoy located?

BH: Right up at 130th Street and Lexington Avenue.

AAJ: Were you thrilled or scared?

BH: I was more scared than thrilled! (laughter). I was scared on every note! And there was a guy named Henry Coker, who was playing the lead trombone. Coker, by the way, was one of the most underrated trombone players in jazz and somehow never got the credit he deserved for the part he played in perpetuating the greatness of this band throughout the '50s and '60s! Anyhow, Coker said, "When Basie stands up and points at you, that's when you're to start playing. I tried to avoid that, but he pointed to me on some kind of blues, and I stood up and played. I guess it was enough to satisfy him. So, that was the beginning of my career with Basie and I stayed for a little over four years. I left in September of 1957. And the reason I left was because my wife was present with our third child. Our second child was born in 1955 and I didn't see him until he was a month old because I was on the road with Basie. So, when my daughter was born I didn't want to be out on the road and I left the band. Unfortunately, I left on kind of bad terms. Basie didn't want me to go.

AAJ: What did you do during that time?

BH: I worked at the post office and played trombone at a place called the Howard Theater, and did some gigs around D.C. with some small groups. Then, when Basie would come to D.C. I'd go to hear the band and he'd invite me to sit in with them. And he'd always say, "I want you to come back as the fourth trombone. And I'd say, "OK, Chief, I'll be thinkin' about it. Finally in 1963 he called me back because Benny Powell was leaving. So when I got back, Benny had left, and Henry Coker was still in the band and Grover Mitchell had joined, so there were the three of us.

AAJ: And that was when you took the bass trombone chair?

BH: We played with those three trombones for about a year or so until Basie wanted to expand and I took up bass trombone.

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