Block party, Broadway stars and namesake orchestra will be part of a big weekend
By Mary Ann Bourbeau
RED BANK – What other band leader besides William James “Count” Basie has the distinction of having his orchestra perform sold-out concerts more than 40 years after his death? This legendary jazz icon, born in Red Bank in 1904, has earned a proper celebration in his honor and so has his namesake theater, The Count Basie Center for the Arts, as it turns 100 this year.
To help celebrate the Basie Center’s Centennial, Monmouth Street will be ceremoniously named “Basie Center Way.”
The three-day celebration begins with a free community block party featuring the world-famous Count Basie Orchestra at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 21, the 122nd anniversary of Count Basie’s birthday. The event includes a dedication ceremony recognizing the Basie Center as part of New Jersey’s Black Heritage Trail. There will also be a presentation of the Count Basie Center Jazz Vanguard Award to Jerry Bakal, a longtime promoter of live jazz music in New Jersey and beyond.
“We are thrilled that the legendary Count Basie Orchestra is here for this year’s birthday celebration,” said Adam Philipson, president and CEO of the Count Basie Center for the Arts. “Welcoming the orchestra back to the Basie Center during our Centennial is especially meaningful because it connects our history with our future. More than a century after Count Basie was born in Red Bank, his music continues to inspire audiences around the world, and this celebration is a powerful reminder that his legacy is still very much alive.”
At 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, the Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Scotty Barnhart, will perform inside the Basie Center. Tickets are priced at $19.26 in honor of the year the historic theater first opened its doors Nov. 11, 1926. It was then a film and vaudeville house known as Reade’s Carlton, and today, after numerous renovations and expansions, welcomes more than 300,000 patrons each year. The Grammy Award-winning Count Basie Orchestra offers a dynamic blend of swing, blues and improvisation, and continues to honor the Count’s vision and universal appeal.
The celebration continues Sunday, Aug. 23, when Tony Award winners Sutton Foster (“Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Anything Goes,” “The Music Man”) and Kelli O’Hara (“The King and I,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Kiss Me, Kate”) perform with the Count Basie Orchestra. The show takes its inspiration from the 1962 CBS special, “Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall,” which featured Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett combining songs, comedy and storytelling. Foster and O’Hara will pay homage to those icons of stage and screen as they perform favorites from the Broadway musicals they have starred in, combined with lots of stories and banter.
“Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara are two of Broadway’s most celebrated performers,” Philipson said. “Having them together on stage with the Count Basie Orchestra will be an unforgettable finale to this weekend. It’s the perfect way to honor our namesake and celebrate 100 years of great performances on our stage.”
The Count Basie Orchestra is led by jazz trumpeter, composer and three-time Grammy Award winner Scotty Barnhart, who has appeared on recordings with pianist Marcus Roberts and singers such as Tony Bennett, Diana Krall and Ray Charles. Barnhart has also performed with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand and the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Throughout the years, the Count Basie Orchestra produced some of the greatest soloists, composers, arrangers and vocalists in jazz history, including Billie Holiday, Thad Jones, Lester Young and Sonny Payne.
The Basie Center’s William “Count” Basie Birthday Weekend has become an annual event to celebrate the Red Bank native, one of the biggest icons of jazz and American popular culture.
Tickets for these events are on sale at thebasie.org.
The article originally appeared in the August 13 – 19, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
