Visual Quotations

"Visual Quotations"
Photographs by Richard Freeman

Count Basie & Ella Fitzgerald - East Lansing Civic Center, E.Lansing, MI - spring 1978

(That's Freddie Greene in the lower right corner of the two middle images of Ella)

My father is a big band fan so I grew up listening to the Count and Ella (and others such as Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong). When, as a freshman at MSU, it was announced they were coming, I talked a couple of friends from the dorm to come along. We sat next to a man about my dad's age. He asked how we had heard of them. I explained. He seemed genuinely elated and grateful that the "younger generation" had an appreciation for them and their music. We had front row seats, and the show was amazing (thanks dad).