The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by the musician known as Count Basie. The band survived the late 1940s decline in big band popularity. In the 1950s and 1960s, it produced notable collaborations with singers such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. The group has continued to perform and record since Basie's death in 1984.