0 albums as leader and 13 as sideman (1954–1975), each listed chronologically.
Paul Quinichette, Bennie Green, Frank Foster, Joe Newman, Hank Jones, Kenny Clarke, Eddie Jones, Johnny Smith
1954 · Decca
Count Basie, Joe Williams
1956 · Verve Records
Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Henry Coker, Benny Powell, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Jones, Kenny Clarke
1956 · Savoy Records
1956 · Count Basie And His Band That Swings The Blues and 1 more
Frank Foster joined Count Basie's saxophone section in 1953, and he also wrote for the band; his 1955 chart "Shiny Stockings" stayed in the book for decades. The tenor player sitting in the section on April In Paris (1957) and Count Basie At Newport (1957) ended up leading the orchestra himself in 1986, two years after Basie died.
1955 · Basie and 1 more
Eddie Jones held the bottom of the band on Count Basie At Newport (1957) and on Basie (1955). He left Count Basie's orchestra in the early 1960s and spent the years that followed employed at IBM, playing only occasionally — the anchor of that rhythm section changed day jobs.
1957 · Count Basie At Newport
Frank Wess joined Count Basie's saxophone section in 1953 as a tenor player, but the thing he actually changed was the flute — an instrument big bands had written off as too quiet to carry. From inside the reed section on Basie (1955), and under his own name on Flutes & Reeds the same year, he made it a standard big-band voice and became a fixture in the DownBeat flute poll.
1973 · Body Talk
Before Breezin' (1976), George Benson was known strictly as a working jazz guitarist, the kind who turns up on sideman dates like Straight Life (1970). Breezin' then became one of the best-selling jazz albums ever, and its single 'This Masquerade' won the Grammy for Record of the Year — overnight, the sideman guitarist became a pop-charting vocalist.
George Benson