Count Basie Orchestra

The year was 1936, and the place was Club Reno. The Reno reportedly shared its downtown Kansas City building with ladies of ill repute and was merely one among dozens of hot spots jumping on any given night. It was at the Reno that an aspiring young saxophonist named Charlie Parker first opened his ears to the sound of Lester “The Prez” Young’s fat tenor wail backed by the incomparable sounds of the Count Basie Orchestra. Like the heady aromas of the Reno’s cigarettes, reefer and booze that have faded into the woodwork of that old room on 12th Street, the once vibrant memory of the city’s rich jazz past has dissipated into a tourist caricature. Yet this year marks the centennial celebration of Basie’s birth and the 68th anniversary of the Count’s escape from this cow town. Little legacy is left from those days of derring-do. Indeed, only small, sacrosanct circles of struggling jazz artists have survived. But every now and then, the CBO pays a visit to remind us of when jazz joints like the Reno were swingin’.