LAST TIME I SAW COUNT BASIE

"Last time I saw Count Basie, he was in a wheelchair.  They wheeled him up onto the stage, he sits down at the piano, and he gives the downbeat, and that band played like they were in heaven. And right in the middle, the band cuts.  He had to take one hand and put the other on it, and he comes down with one note.  And it was the greatest note I ever heard in my life."


"There are times when you want to go where you used to go, and you can't go there.  So I'm back to Count Basie lifting his hand.  And I find you can stop that show with one note just like you can with a hundred."