Hand Quote by Henry Mancini

Both of my mom's parents were music teachers, so I was hearing the fundamentals of playing the piano, what notes are, and all those…

— Jillian Hervey

I joined Count Basie's band to make a little money and to see the world. For two years I didn't see anything but the…

— Billie Holiday

And, well of course, Count Basie, and I think all of the black bands of the late thirties and early forties, bands with real…

— Buddy Rich

I decided that I would be one of the biggest new names; and I actually had some little fancy business cards printed up to…

— Count Basie

“I started going to jazz clubs in New York when I was twelve or thirteen, first with my older cousins Mike and Jack, and…

— Donald Fagen

Count Basie was college, but Duke Ellington was graduate school.

— Clark Terry

When I was 16 or 17 I heard the Count Basie band with Jo Jones and Lester Young and Herschel Evans and I couldn't…

— Illinois Jacquet

My father was a huge jazz fan, so I remember him playing Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, and Count Basie.

— Brian Stokes Mitchell

Count Basie practically adopted me at 13. We became closer and closer and I ended up conducting for him and Sinatra.

— Quincy Jones

We were all influenced by Lester [Young]. Listen to the records that he made with [Count] Basie. Nobody's got what he's got. He's still…

— Zoot Sims

Count Basie isn't just a man, or even just a band. He's a way of life.

— Lena Horne

More than anybody else I’d like to thank Count Basie for teaching me how to perform.

— Tony Bennett