The world lost one of the greatest-ever jazz musicians with the death of Count Basie, who died on 26 April, 1984 aged 79.

He was regarded as one of the leading figures in jazz’s swing era and led popular groups for almost 50 years.

Count Basie helped to showcase a legion of brilliant singers and musicians.

And he even helped to propel luminaries such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to even greater heights.

William “Count” Basie was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, on 21 August, 1904 . His mother Lillian was Basie’s first piano teacher when he was a child.

He started out as a drummer but the obvious talents of one of his neighbours, Sonny Greer (who was Duke Ellington’s drummer from 1919 to 1951), discouraged Mr Basie and he switched to piano. In his late teens he spent a lot of time in Harlem where one of his contemporaries was Fats Waller.

He began touring the burlesque and vaudeville circuits and in 1928 joined Walter Page’s Blue Devils. The following year he became the pianist with the Bennie Moten Band in Kansas City and it was at this time he began to be known as “Count” Basie. After Bennie Moten died in 1935, Mr Basie formed a new band, which included many of Mr Moten’s former members.

He then moved his band from Kansas in 1936 and honed its repertoire at a Chicago club. In October the band took part in a recording session which producer John Hammond, later described as “the only perfect, completely perfect recording session I’ve ever had anything to do with”. By the end of 1936 they began playing in New York City , where the Count Basie Orchestra remained until 1950. His music was characterised by his trademark “jumping” beat and Basie also showcased some of the best blues singers of the era, including Billie Holiday , Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, Helen Humes and Joe Williams.

The big band era appeared to be at an end but Mr Basie reformed his as a 16-piece orchestra in 1952 and led it until his death. He remained faithful to the Kansas City jazz style and helped keep the genre alive with his distinctive piano playing.

By the mid-1950s, his band had become one of the pre-eminent backing big bands for the finest jazz vocalists. Joe Williams was spectacularly featured on the 1957 album One O’Clock Jump and 1956’s Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings.

Mr Basie had by now moved to Queens, New York, with wife Catherine. He appeared as himself in the Jerry Lewis film Cinderfella (1960) and in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974). Ella Fitzgerald’s 1963 album Ella and Basie is remembered as one of the singer’s greatest recordings. She also toured with the Basie Orchestra in the mid-1970s.

Frank Sinatra had an equally fruitful relationship with him – 1963’s Sinatra-Basie and 1964’s It Might As Well Be Swing are two of the high points of Sinatra’s artistry. Count Basie continued to lead his bands until his death of pancreatic cancer in Florida.

Count Basie’s huge contribution to jazz was recognised by receipt of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

He also received one of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1981 and will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

He helped to launch the careers of a slew of brilliant musicians, including trumpeters Buck Clayton and Sweets Edison, and saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans.

And with his big band he was one of the most popular and influential bandleaders – even performing from his wheelchair right up to his death.