Jazz Beat: Count Basie Orchestra, at the Gem Theater

Seventy-nine years ago, in KC’s 18th Street and Vine Jazz District, a young Bill Basie assembled the band that would introduce the world to Kansas City swing. Brash and brassy, with a tap-your-foot-to-it beat that was born from the 12-bar blues, the sound remains integral to jazz. Saturday night at the Gem Theater, the Count Basie Orchestra returns to the neighborhood where it all began. An American Jazz Walk of Fame will be unveiled, with bronze medallions honoring KC jazz greats Basie, Charlie Parker, Mary Lou Williams, Jay McShann, Pat Metheny and Bobby Watson. Then the music of the Basie Orchestra, as well as Bobby Watson and the American Jazz Orchestra, will fill the Gem, where foot tapping is encouraged.