# @EastOrangeRCA on Facebook

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.facebook.com/1386922296948975/posts/1222117380096135
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/69494158-EastOrangeRCA-facebook
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/fea55d43db.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-02-06T16:03:04.000+00:00

## Caption

#EORCA's #BlackHistoryMonth theme for 2026 is "Honoring Jazz," and each week during the month of February, we will shine a light on some of the most impactful jazz musicians of all time.

This week, we'd like to honor greats with roots across New Jersey. Our headliner for this week is the great COUNT BASIE! 🎷

🎹 Born William James “Count” Basie in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1904, Basie became one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century.

🪩 Basie helped define the swing era by forming his own big band, The Count Basie Orchestra, a sound that made the world dance.

🎶 Basie’s band delivered timeless, signature classics like “One O’Clock Jump” and “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” which helped modernize and spread jazz.

🏆 In 1958 at the Inaugural Grammy Awards ceremony, Basie became the first African American male to win a Grammy Award (Ella Fitzgerald was the first African American female to win a Grammy at the same ceremony). Basie would end his career with nine total Grammys.

✨ Over his career, he worked with iconic artists like Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Sammy Davis, Jr and others, cementing his legacy in jazz history.

🙌🏾 Other notable Jazz artists with ties to the Garden State include Gillespie (Englewood), Sarah Vaughan (Newark), Bill Evans (Plainfield), Wayne Shorter (Newark), and Willie "The Lion" Smith (Newark)

📖 For more information on Count Basie, check out his feature on Biography.com: https://www.biography.com/musicians/count-basie

🗓️ And don't forget to follow #EORCA for all of its Honoring Jazz events this month, and check out all the other #BlackHistoryMonth events going on around the City!

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## Tags

eorca, blackhistorymonth

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