Jimmy Rushing

JIMMY RUSHING d1972. American blues shouter and swing band singer known as "Mr Five By Five" ; he was the featured vocalist with The Count Basie Orchestra between 1935-1948. He sang with Billy King before moving on to Page's Blue Devils in 1927. He then along with other members of the Blue Devils, defected to the Bennie Moten band in 1929. Moten died in 1935, and Rushing joined Count Basie for what would be a 13-year vocation. Due to his tutelage under his mentor Moten, Rushing was a proponent of the Kansas jump blues tradition, best evinced by his performances of "Sent For You Yesterday" and "Boogie Woogie" for the Count Basie Orchestra. After leaving Basie, his career soared, as a solo-artist and  singer with other bands. Basie always claimed that Rushing "never had an equal" as a blues vocalist. He died of leukemia in 1972.