Too Marvelous for Words compiles 12 highlights from John Hammond's late '50s recordings of Count Basie and his band for Vanguard. Hammond didn't specifically record Basie,...
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This is one of popular entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr's best jazz-oriented albums. The CD reissue features Davis with the Count Basie Orchestra performing arrangements by...
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Joe Williams' debut as the featured vocalist in Count Basie's band was one of those landmark moments that even savvy observers don't fully appreciate when it occurs, then...
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This mid-priced release features Basie working in a relaxed, subdued manner, with ensembles ranging from quintet to full band. The music is drawn from across 14 years and...
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The Basie band was home to several top-notch vocalists over the years, and this collection spotlights some of the best. Kicking off with Jimmy Rushing fronting the band on...
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The Count Basie Orchestra is heard on this set playing live in Fresno in 1959 during the peak of their "atomic period." The purely instrumental set (released for the first...
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This CD contains 25 selections featuring the Count Basie Orchestra taken from radio broadcasts. Ten numbers are from an April 1944 session in which tenor great Lester Young...
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There are actually no "hits" on this reissue from Count Basie, part of RCA Victor's erratic introduction to jazz program that resulted in ten CDs in 1996. Basie was only...
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Double CD release of a February 1955 show from Topeka, Kansas, with Count Basie and his Orchestra on three numbers, backing Basie alumnus Lester Young on three more, and Joe...
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There's no shortage of live Count Basie material from his Roulette years. This mid-priced 45-minute CD, however, draws from some odd material, cut live at a deejays dance at...
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Released in 1999 to cash in on the resurgence of interest in swing music among post-baby boomers, Atomic Swing manages to transcend its immediate commercial purpose. It is...
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One O'Clock Jump: The Very Best of Count Basie contains 12 recordings, includings such staples as "Fools Rush In," "Sweet Lorraine," "Summertime," "April In Paris," "It Had...
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This album gave the Count Basie Orchestra a rare chance to record an instrumental studio date in the late '60s. Arranger Sammy Nestico made his debut with Basie on this...
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Frank Sinatra's collaborations with Count Basie were among the singer's better ventures back into jazz in the early 1960s, and led not only to a couple of great studio...
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The Count and his orchestra tackle the music of the Fab Four, without any hint of condescension or lassitude. Indeed, the 11 songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and one...
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This interesting CD mostly reissues the V-Discs of Count Basie's Orchestra, performed during a time when the musicians' union strike kept the Basie band off records. Lester...
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Even after the loss of Lester Young, the Count Basie Orchestra was still in fine form on the recordings on this CD, which end right before Pearl Harbor. Trombonist Dicky...
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This 1997 CD released for the first time 22 selections (plus two brief renditions of "One O'Clock Jump") by the 1956 Count Basie big band. These live performances are fairly...
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This big-band album finds Count Basie (at age 77) and his orchestra performing seven charts by longtime friend Sammy Nestico, including six originals and "Satin Doll."...
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The Count Basie Orchestra continued to grow in strength during the period covered by this CD, with Vic Dickenson replacing Benny Morton in the trombone section, high-note...
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Bill (Count) Basie first shows up on record at the end of the 1920s, playing piano with Bennie Moten & the Kansas City Orchestra. Legend has it that Basie became a "Count"...
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Intercontinental's Golden Hits is a budget-priced collection of re-recordings of such hits as "One O'Clock Jump," "Lady Be Good," "All of Me," "Jumpin' at the Woodside,"...
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Count Basie spent the last decade of his life recording regularly for Norman Granz's Pablo label. This four-CD set, which does not contain any material not available...
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You can tell how badly Columbia Records has bolixed up their Count Basie catalog -- in contrast to Decca/MCA -- by looking at the credits for this well-intended 17-song...
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Not his best, it's still a nice sampler of Basie during 1942-46 with ten studio recordings, including a remake of "One O'Clock Jump," the classic "It's Sand Man, " "Avenue...
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It's discs like this that give the European pirates a good name -- the opener alone, "High Tide," cut at Radio City in May of 1945, justifies the price, a scatting, bouncy...
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The second Count Basie release on the Classics label, 1938-1939 offers a generous helping of the prime, groundbreaking swing the group brought to the national limelight from...
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Best of Count Basie Live contains a good portion of the live material that the Count Basie Orchestra recorded for Decca Records between 1936 and 1939. At the time, Basie's...
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This studio session from 1977 features Count Basie in a quintet with vibraphonist Milt Jackson and guitarist Joe Pass. The predictably excellent group performs spirited...
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Norman Granz got this one backwards. Instead of featuring Dizzy Gillespie with the Count Basie Orchestra, he put Gillespie and Basie together in a quartet which the...
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One of the reasons that some major labels love to license big chunks of their catalogs to smaller independent outfits for box set reissues is that they never know that those...
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The bad part about this ultra-budget CD ($5 list) is that, absent an intimate knowledge of personnel in the Basie band, you have to buy it and open it up to discover that...
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The Count Basie orchestra was very much at home at New York's Birdland in the '50s and early '60s, frequently playing there several months a year. This spirited set has...
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The official start of Count Basie's decade-long association with Norman Granz's Pablo label was a bit disappointing, an all-star cast (with trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison,...
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For this enjoyable jam session, Count Basie heads up a very impressive cast of players, including altoist Benny Carter, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis on tenor, trumpeter Clark...
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But for the fact that it only has 11 tracks, this mid-priced compilation (not to be confused with the identically titled Bluebird collection covering Basie's early-'30s...
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From the same recording session that resulted in Basie Jam - Vol. 2, these four performances of standards also feature Count Basie, guitarist Joe Pass, trumpeter Clark...
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This is a hodgepodge collection focusing on Basie's piano-playing from four different sessions. Five selections find him in trios while the other three numbers are meetings...
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These two live Count Basie albums, dating to 1968 and 1977, were combined by LRC on to a budget double compact disc set. These are fine concerts, although relatively late...
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A worthy CD full of Basie rarities, it includes unissued and alternate versions of V Discs and two radio broadcasts; the one from 1944 features drummer Buddy Rich filling in...
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Although Pablo's The Best of Count Basie is a solid overview of highlights from Basie's Roulette recordings, it will primarily be of interest to neophytes, since it offers...
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There were a lot of compilations claiming to offer "the best of Count Basie" -- the man recorded for just under 50 years, after all -- but this one really means it. Until...
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The record that put the Atomic Basie Band on the map. A fresh approach to big band writing and execution by a new generation of young arrangers, featuring definitive...
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One of the staples in the Count Basie discography, April in Paris is one of those rare albums that makes its mark as an almost instant classic in the jazz pantheon. April in...
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If one judged them by their studio albums of the 1963-70 period, it would seem that Count Basie's orchestra was in its decline, but this recently released live CD proves...
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Eight years after Count Basie's death, Capitol Records released this handy 20-song collection of his most notable tracks from the years 1957-1962 that he spent on Roulette...
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Possibly inspired by Count Basie's renewed activity at Verve Records in the mid-'50s, Columbia raided its vaults to assemble this thematic album, consisting of a dozen blues...
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This fine CD consists of two radio airchecks from 1954, featuring Count Basie with a nonet and his full orchestra. The smaller group also has trumpeter Joe Newman,...
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While French RCA put out a three-LP set documenting 48 of Count Basie's recordings for that label during 1947-50, its American counterpart instead just reissued 21 of those...
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This budget CD is a straight reissue of the Groove Merchant LP, Evergreens, an okay session of overly brief performances of standards. The tough tenor of Eddie "Lockjaw"...
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This was an excellent outing by the Count Basie Orchestra during its later years. Actually, half of this album features a medium-sized group from Basie's big band, but his...
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Originally titled More Hits of the 50's and 60's, Frankly Basie: Count Basie Plays the Hits of Frank Sinatra, a salute to Frank Sinatra by the Count Basie Orchestra, is...
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Rather than release all of Count Basie's studio recordings (as Decca recently has or as French Columbia did in two large LP sets over a decade ago), CBS has put together...
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Contains the cream of their Columbia sides ("Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie," "Dickie's Dream" and "Lester Leaps In" and Jimmy Rushing's vocal on "I Left My...
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A fine sampler of the 1939-40 Count Basie orchestra, it features such classic performances as "Dickie's Dream," "Lester Leaps In" and "Tickle Toe." Lester Young and fellow...
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This session from 1980 helps to recreate the atmosphere of '30s Kansas City. Featured are the great blues singer Joe Turner and the strong singer and altoist Eddie...
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Norman Granz recorded Count Basie in many different settings during his decade with Granz's Pablo label. This jam session set was a little unusual in that, along with the...
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This is one of many small-group jam sessions organized by Norman Granz to feature pianist Count Basie. This time around the proceedings (utilizing a sextet) have plenty of...
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The late-'60s Count Basie Band, featuring the frenetic, surging tenor sax of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was spotlighted on this 17-cut CD reissue, part of a series issued by the...
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All of the music on this CD reissue plus a great deal more was previously released on a Mosaic eight-CD box set. Count Basie's final Roulette recordings before his band...
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This release gives one a definitive look at the Count Basie Orchestra during its final years. Trumpeter Pete Minger, trombonist Booty Wood and Eric Dixon on tenor and flute...
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This a 1990 reissue of prime Basie cuts. His powerhouse 30's/40's orchestra with Lester Young (sax), Jimmy Rushing (v), etc. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music...
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For this studio album from late 1958 and early 1959, the Count Basie Orchestra performs ten Quincy Jones compositions; he also contributed all of the arrangements. "I Needs...
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The second of Laserlight's live Count Basie CDs from sometime in the late '50s, this one has fewer high points with remakes of various Basie standards (such as "Jumpin' at...
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The cuts on this anthology were recorded with Count Basie's legendary 1940s band nearing the end. These cuts were mostly unissued and show a band still capable of playing...
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The extraordinary jazz vocal group, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross had debuted in 1957 with Sing a Song of Basie during which they recreated his orchestra with their overdubbed...
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This is the third and thus far final volume in a sampler series picking out some of the highpoints of Count Basie's 1939-42 period on Columbia. Lester Young's departure in...
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The Count Basie band got its big break in 1938, thanks to some stellar early Decca sides and a stay at New York's Famous Door nightclub. In fact, many feel the late '30s...
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The cornerstone of American swing, a big band with the feel of a small combo. Basie anchors the definitive rhythm section at first blush of their greatness, and great...
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This magnificent three-disc set has the first 63 recordings by Count Basie's Orchestra, all of his Deccas. The consistency is remarkable (with not more than two or three...
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There's no shortage of recordings of the Count Basie band on stage from this period, but at the same time, any new addition is always welcomed. The ten tracks here were...
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The second collection of transcriptions from a period when the musicians union strike resulted in no commercial recordings being made, this set (which is actually superior...
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The origin of this session's title is a bit of a mystery since this album was actually recorded live in Sweden. The Count Basie Orchestra plays its usual repertoire...
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This is the first of two Laserlight CDs documenting Count Basie's orchestra, sometime in the late '50s, playing before a live audience. Even with the presence of "Corner...
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Count Basie's last-known album (recorded four months before his death), this big-band record gives no hints of the end nearing; in fact the music is quite upbeat and...
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This is one of Count Basie's best big-band studio recordings for Norman Granz during his Pablo years. The arrangements by Bill Holman are both challenging and swinging,...
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By 1978 the Count Basie Orchestra no longer had trombonist Al Grey and tenor-saxophonist Jimmy Forrest as their stars, but this superb ensemble band was also no longer...
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One of arranger Sammy Nestico's most enjoyable sessions for Count Basie, these eight selections (six composed by Nestico, including the title cut and "Ya Gotta Try") are...
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Like Hindsight's Count Basie and His Orchestra 1944, The Jubilee Alternatives covers the period from December 1943 until October 1944, when the Musicians' Union's ban meant...
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Three decades after the fact, people looking at releases like This Time by Basie would tend to dismiss it as pandering, Count Basie doing a "pops"-type outing -- the cheesy...
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On Count Basie's second trio album for Pablo, he is reunited with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Louie Bellson. In addition to the expected blues, the main joy of this set is...
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This two-tenor, two-trumpet front line, from the late autumn of Basie's life, showcases the pianist's sparkling touch as an accompanist and improviser. Stellar recording...
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This typically enjoyable Basie all-star jam is particularly noteworhty because it includes the great (but underrated) tenor of Budd Johnson along with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis...
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This big-band performance from the 1975 Montreux Jazz Festival introduces what could be called Count Basie's third great orchestra (although in style it was a continuation...
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Count Basie always seemed to kick things up a notch when he took his big band out on-stage, and this early morning set recorded at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival is no...
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From Norman Granz's marathon series of performances recorded at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival, this set finds Count Basie fronting a jam session featuring trumpeter Roy...
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Throughout his career, Count Basie was modest about his own abilities as a pianist, and his success at streamlining his style to the bare essentials often made listeners...
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This rare big band outing for singer Billy Eckstine (which has been reissued on CD) is one of Mr. B's best ever recordings. Heard in prime voice, Eckstine was clearly...
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Count Basie and an all-star band (including trumpeter Harry Edison, trombonist J.J. Johnson and the tenors of Eddie Davis and Zoot Sims) back up veteran Kansas City blues...
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When they first met up for a full album in 1974, the two-piano team of Count Basie and Oscar Peterson must have seemed like an unlikely matchup. After all, Peterson is known...
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Recorded three years after their first full album together, this second encounter between Count Basie and Oscar Peterson on twin pianos (this time with a quartet) is as...
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From the same sessions that resulted in Night Rider and Yessir, this quartet date also features the two pianos of Oscar Peterson and Count Basie collaborating and...
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From the same week that resulted in Night Rider and Timekeepers, this is the fifth album that documents the matchup of Count Basie and Oscar Peterson. The two pianists...
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For this set, it was Quincy Jones's turn to provide a program for the Basie Orchestra. All nine of the originals are virtually forgotten today but are very well-played by...
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Ironically, the earliest recording by Count Basie for Norman Granz's Pablo label was one of the most recent to be released. This jam session features trumpeter Roy Eldridge,...
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The Roulette half of the two Bennett/Basie sessions is a band singer's paradise, with the Basie band caught at a robust and swinging peak and Bennett never sounding happier...
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Tony Bennett recorded two albums with Count Basie and His Orchestra under a contractual agreement giving one of the records to Bennett's label, Columbia, and the other to...
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This is a classic encounter that has been reissued on CD in the Original Jazz Classics series. Pianist Count Basie (in his best-small group outing of the 1970's) and...
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Jazz snobs and jazz purists refuse to admit it, but the fact is that jazz was once part of pop culture. Back in the late '30s, swing wasn't regarded as ultra-intellectual,...
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Count Basie's 1944 radio transcriptions are reissued on this CD. Most interesting is the fact that this was the largely undocumented period (due to the musicians' recording...
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This first volume of a 1972 Paris concert by Count Basie & His Orchestra has a diverse program full of enjoyable moments. "Whirly Bird," a contribution by Neal Hefti, is one...
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Another mysterious Drive Archive release, released under license from The Kruger Organization (TKO) which seems, based on the recording dates, to have drawn most of it from...
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Just at face value, this is an important recording. As a result of the Musicians' Union recording ban, Count Basie made no official recordings during the entire year of...
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This double CD contains numerous radio transcriptions of Count Basie and his band from their prime years. In that sense, it isn't particularly special. On the other hand,...
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The Count Basie Orchestra is heard on this album playing live at a disc-jockey convention in Miami. Their first of three sets took place at 2 a.m. but the late hour if...
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Following a brief lull earlier in the 1950s, Count Basie had rebuilt his big band by the time of this trio of studio sessions originally recorded for Clef. Among the...
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With cooperation from the Verve and Columbia Legacy catalogs, the Ken Burns Jazz series on CD individually spotlights the musical excellence of 22 jazz originators whose...
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The Verve compilation Count Basie's Finest Hour features a nice mix of sides recorded by the pianist/bandleader and his big band over the years. While it is by no means a...
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Although it appeared at a time when Count Basie was enjoying respect from all quarters (as evidenced by the pop acclaim of several Grammy awards and the jazz faithful's...
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This mid-priced collection is good as far as it goes, presenting 16 tracks derived from two distinctly separate periods in Count Basie's career. The first five cuts are by...
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Jazz Moods: Hot is essentially a single-disc sampler for Sony/Legacy's America's # 1 Band: The Columbia Years box set, which collects Count Basie material from his late-'30s...
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Count Basie & Friends: 100th Birthday Bash is, quite simply, a stunningly remastered double-disc collection of Basie collaborations and presentations of smaller subgroups...
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The Count Basie Story was originally issued as a deluxe double-LP box set in 1961 by Roulette Records. The basic idea was for the modern Basie big band to re-record some its...
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The music included here is form 1958 when singer Tony Bennett fronted the Count Basie Orchestra. The title is a bit misleading because Basie himself only appears on two...
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In late 1970, more than 35 years into his career as a bandleader, Count Basie, working with producer Bob Thiele and arranger/conductor/saxman Oliver Nelson, went into the...
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From Norman Granz's marathon series of performances recorded at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival, this set finds Count Basie fronting a jam session featuring trumpeter Roy...
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