One of the more individual tenors to emerge from the swing era, the distinctive Buddy Tate came to fame as Herschel Evans' replacement with Count Basie's Orchestra. Earlier he had picked up valuable experience playing with Terrence Holder (1930-1933), Count Basie's original Kansas City band (1934), Andy Kirk (1934-1935), and Nat Towles (1935-1939). With Basie a second time during 1939-1948, Tate held his own with such major tenors as Lester Young, Don Byas, Illinois Jacquet, Lucky Thompson, and Paul Gonsalves. After a period freelancing with the likes of Hot Lips Page, Lucky Millinder, and Jimmy Rushing (1950-1952), Tate led his own crowd-pleasing group for 21 years (1953-1974) at Harlem's Celebrity Club. During this period, Tate also took time out to record in a variety of setting (including with Buck Clayton and Milt Buckner) and he was the one of the stars of John Hammond's Spirituals to Swing concert of 1967.
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