Buddy Tate, a broad-toned saxophonist who was a vital part of the widely admired Count Basie band of the 1940s, died Saturday in Chandler, Ariz. He was 87.
Mr. Tate was one of the great tenor saxophonists of the swing era, a sophisticated ballad player influenced by the diaphanous tone of Lester Young, his section mate in the Basie orchestra, and by the urgency and rhythmic muscularity of Coleman Hawkins.
These traits could be heard in his first recorded solo with Basie’s band, “Rock-a-Bye Basie” (1939), which he felt was one of his best.
Born George Holmes Tate in Sherman, Texas, he began his career in the late 1920s, playing in the Southwest with bands led by Terrence Holder, Andy Kirk and Nat Towles. He played briefly with Count Basie in 1934, then began a 10-year association with the Basie orchestra in 1939, after the death of its saxophonist, Herschel Evans.
In the 1950s Mr. Tate played with Lucky Millinder, Jimmy Rushing and Hot Lips Page and, in 1953, began to lead his own band, which played a regular show at the Celebrity Club in New York for more than 20 years.
His career of playing and recording, mostly at selected festivals and with touring groups, lasted through the mid-1990s.
