i've always loved the famous count-ba-sie! ending from splanky.  a couple of years ago, at the newport beach jazz party, i was shocked when the entire audience stood up and pumped their fists while chanting the ending as tamir hendelman played it on the piano as part of the clayton-hamilton big band.  how did everyone know to do that?  i thought i knew because i love the count, etc., but before then i had never talked about it to anybody.
so i googled the count basie ending, but i didn't really find anything talking about it, other than a couple of sentences here and there.  then i watched the youtube videos, and nobody in the audience was chanting the ending in those videos.  so how did everyone know to do that?  and how come i can't read about it anywhere?

anyway, i want to hear your stories about that ending.  how did you first learn about it?  for those of you old enough, what was it like to hear that from the count live, or from some of the other big band at the time?  i just want some history about it all.  thanks.
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i got to see him and his big band live at a jazz festival back in my old college days (70s).  i even got special notice for knowing what "splank time" was while sight reading a chart.  the chart just said "splank time" at the end - no notes - and i nailed it:)
that's awesome!  i love that story!

i'm totally using that term from now on: splank time.  do musicians still use that term today?

so...when you saw "splank time" did you know right away that it meant the classic ending?  how did you know that?  is it just because you were familiar with the song, or did people talk about that ending enough where it was a familiar term?
i actually made a guess.  my dad was a piano player so i had heard all that music before i learned to talk.  i knew that as the "basie ending", so assumed that's what they meant in the chart, plus...it just sounded like the right thing to do at the time...and it was!
well, dr. whack, i have to thank you for that story.  i was just telling my friend about and his remark was, "so...i think we just found the name of our album."

so there you go: splank time.  coming soon...
cool!  let us know when it is out.  i can't wait to hear it!

splank on...
i have known that ending almost as long as i have been playing piano.  but i have never heard of the tune "splanky" until now.  is that the tune of origin to the basie ending?   i listened to him play it on utube since reading this thread and i know he uses that ending on splanky but but my question is... is that the first tune he used that ending on?
i was always intrigued by that ending and never knew it really had a name at all. i'd see big bands just go wailing away on tv shows and then just suddenly stop, and you'd hear the piano do those three high-register beats then followed by this long blasting often very dischordant chord at the end.
  in my much younger years i was in a piano bar and heard the player end the song with it and i went right up to him and he showed my how it was done. in the key of c he played the notes f-c  f#-c  g-c followed by a c9. cool.

    i still use this ending once in a while but have added the notes  
  eb on the second beat and e on the 3rd at the bottom, which is how the pianist in the song "till i met you' by manhattan transfer played it--or maybe this is how it should be played--i have heard variations of it since then. it just fills it out a bit more. and of course i end it with a huge c13 #11 (voiced as bbmaj7+5/c)at the end. people still think it's neat
it was in the late seventies and i was working in a jazz trio with a girl singer.  we were playing in one of the mob places on miami beach when mr. basie came in with his entourage.  he was walking with a cane and everyone was helping him. i guess he came in to hear the r&b group that was alternating with us as he seemed to know all the older gentlemen in the group.  he stayed most of the night and when he was leaving someone called, "my way," and to my horror i heard, "and now the end is near," coming out of my mouth as i sat there at the piano.  he turned, smiled and waved at us.  it was one of the best nights of my life.
i love these comments!  thanks everyone!
by the way, about the ending, the most accurate voicing i've found is the following:
in the key of c, for all three beats, you keep the top two notes as a-c.  then the other two notes on the bottom are the ones that move up as you do that ending.  so it goes (in order, and from lowest-to-highest notes):
d-f-a-c
d#-f#-a-c
e-g-a-c

it's very awesome.  in a way, it's basie's personal symbol/trademark.
and by the way, for any of you that haven't seen this, check this out:


it's count and ella.  it might just be the best thing i've ever seen.
i always like: f-c-d
              f#-c-d
               g-c-d  with the c13b5 on the end. it doesn't sound so pretty.
hmm!  i've never tried if dougmck's way.  i'll have to do that when i get home and see how good it sounds.  thanks!

philip's way is just weird!  i'll have to try that, but it must sound pretty dissonant with the c-d together like that.
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