Charles Fowlkes’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Charlie Fowlkes (16 February 1916 – 9 February 1980) was an American baritone saxophonist, best known for his time with Count Basie, which lasted for more than twenty-five years.

Fowlkes was born in New York, and studied alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet, and violin before settling on the baritone sax (he also played occasional flute). He spent most of his early career in New York, playing with Tiny Bradshaw (1938–1944), Lionel Hampton (1944–1948), and Arnett Cobb (1948–1951). This pattern of work was unusual for a jazz musician at the time; sidemen generally moved rapidly between bands, but Fowlkes had a sense of loyalty that kept him with bands for much longer periods.

This was nowhere more evident than in his relationship with Count Basie. After joining Basie’s orchestra in 1953, Fowlkes stayed with it until his death, with a short break in the 1940s for World War II (and the occasional absence occasioned by the career of his wife, the singer Wini Brown, whose manager he was). (Note: It can’t be, as someone posted, that Fowlkes joined the band in 1953, but took a “short break” in the 1940s.)

Fowlkes was the low-end foundation of the Basie band. Just listen to the Basie numbers, when Fowlkes was present, and you’ll hear his low end presence—something that added importantly and richly to the Basied “sound.”

Discography

With The Count Basie Orchestra

• The Count! (Clef, 1952 [1955])
• Basie Jazz (Clef, 1952 [1954])
• Dance Session (Clef, 1953)
• Dance Session Album #2 (Clef, 1954)
• Basie (Clef, 1954)
• Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (Clef, 1955) with Joe Williams
• April in Paris (Verve, 1956)
• The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards with Joe Williams
• Metronome All-Stars 1956 (Clef, 1956) with Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams
• Hall of Fame (Verve, 1956 [1959])
• The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards with Joe Williams (Verve, 1956)
• Basie in London (Verve, 1956)
• One O’Clock Jump (Verve, 1957) with Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald
• Count Basie at Newport (Verve, 1957)
• The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette, 1957) aka Basie and E=MC²
• Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette, 1958)
• Sing Along with Basie (Roulette, 1958) – with Joe Williams and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
• Chairman of the Board (Roulette, 1959)
• Basie One More Time (Roulette, 1959)
• Breakfast Dance and Barbecue (Roulette, 1959)
• Basie/Eckstine Incorporated (Roulette, 1959)
• Strike Up the Band (Roulette, 1959)
• In Person! with Tony Bennett (Verve, 1959)
• Everyday I Have the Blues (Roulette, 1959) – with Joe Williams
• Dance Along with Basie (Roulette, 1959)
• Not Now, I’ll Tell You When (Roulette, 1960)
• The Count Basie Story (Roulette, 1960)
• Kansas City Suite (Roulette, 1960)
• Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan with Sarah Vaughan (Roulette, 1960)
• Basie at Birdland (Roulette, 1961)
• First Time! The Count Meets the Duke with Duke Ellington (Columbia, 1961)
• The Legend (Roulette, 1961)
• Easin’ It (Roulette, 1962)
• Back with Basie (Roulette, 1962)
• Basie in Sweden (Roulette, 1962)
• Sinatra–Basie: An Historic Musical First (Reprise, 1962)
• On My Way & Shoutin’ Again! (Verve, 1962)
• This Time by Basie! (Reprise, 1963)
• More Hits of the 50’s and 60’s (Verve, 1963)
• Li’l Ol’ Groovemaker…Basie! (Verve, 1963)
• Ella and Basie! with Ella Fitzgerald (Verve, 1963)
• Basie Land (Verve, 1964)
• It Might as Well Be Swing with Frank Sinatra (Reprise, 1964)
• Our Shining Hour with Sammy Davis, Jr. (Verve, 1965)
• Pop Goes the Basie (Reprise, 1965)
• Basie Meets Bond (United Artists, 1966)
• Live at the Sands (Before Frank) (Reprise, 1966 [1998])
• Sinatra at the Sands (Reprise, 1966) with Frank Sinatra
• Basie’s Beatle Bag (Verve, 1966)
• Broadway Basie’s…Way (Command, 1966)
• Hollywood…Basie’s Way (Command, 1967)
• Basie’s Beat (Verve, 1967)
• Basie’s in the Bag (Brunswick, 1967)
• The Happiest Millionaire (Coliseum, 1967)
• Half a Sixpence (Dot, 1967)
• The Board of Directors with the Mills Brothers (Dot, 1967)
• Manufacturers of Soul (Brunswick, 1968) with Jackie Wilson
• The Board of Directors Annual Report (Dot, 1968) with The Mills Brothers
• Basie Straight Ahead (Dot, 1968)
• How About This (Paramount, 1968) with Kay Starr
• Standing Ovation (Dot, 1969)
• Basic Basie (MPS, 1969)
• Basie on the Beatles (Happy Tiger, 1969)
• Basie Big Band (Pablo, 1975)
• I Told You So (Pablo, 1976)
• Live in Japan ’78 (Pablo, 1978)
• Digital III at Montreux with Ella Fitzgerald (Pablo, 1979)
• A Classy Pair with Ella Fitzgerald (Pablo, 1979)

With Al Grey

• The Last of the Big Plungers (Argo, 1959)
• The Thinking Man’s Trombone (Argo, 1960)

With Milt Jackson

• Meet Milt Jackson (Savoy, 1955)

With Yusef Lateef

• Part of the Search (Atlantic, 1973)

With Billy Taylor

• My Fair Lady Loves Jazz (Impulse!, 1957)

With Stanley Cowell

• Regeneration (Strata East, 1976)

Sources and external links

• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
• Charlie Fowlkes — brief biography by Eugene Chadbourne, for AllMusic.