Americas #1 Band! The Columbia Years by Count Basie and His Orchestra

24 Jul

Written by Don Williamson
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Will the hundredth anniversary of Count Basie’s birth in 2004 be noted as elaborately, and as profitably, as was Duke Ellington’s in 1999? How could that be possible, without the neo-trad publicity juggernaut of Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra behind an Ellington tribute, or without tons of books weighing in on the subject, some lightweights retreading familiar ground and very few heavyweights taking the time to uncover previously unknown facts about Ellington? Albert Murray’s Good Morning Blues will remain the definitive biography of Count Basie, better written than any others could hope to be and revelatory in its exhaustive prodding to find out more from this most private of band leaders. And Columbia/Legacy’s Count Basie & His Orchestra: America’s #1 Band will remain, when all is said and done, the most diligently produced recorded tribute to the spirit of Count Basie’s music that captivated audiences, particularly in the years 1936 to 1951 covered in this box set.

These were the years when Basie was finding his own voice on the piano and emerging from the status of a regional phenomenon to that of a worldwide name, thanks to producer John Hammond’s discovery of Basie’s band via a late-night Kansas City radio that he heard in Chicago. So inspired was Hammond of the Basie group’s music and so determined was he to record it that he circumvented Basie’s Decca contract by documenting on the Vocalion label Basie’s quintet as Jones-Smith Inc., named after trumpeter Carl "Tatti" Smith and drummer Jo Jones. It’s a good thing. For Lester Young’s solo on the Jones-Smith Inc. version of "Shoe Shine Boy" is his first recorded solo. And, two of the four tracks feature blues shouter Jimmy Rushing, who also went on from that point in 1936 to become one of the most influential originals in jazz.

Speaking of influential singers, Billie Holiday appears on three of the tracks on the fourth disk during airchecks at the Savoy Ballroom and the Meadowbrook Lounge, accompanied by such Basie stalwarts as Freddie Green, Jo Jones, Walter Page, Lester Young, Buck Clayton and Jack Washington. The other singer to appear occasionally with the Basie orchestra was Helen Humes, recommended by the Basie guru, Hammond.

Reissue producer Orrin Keepnews has distilled Basie’s music from this period into four groups: Jones-Smith Inc.; Basie’s small groups; the Basie orchestra; and restoration of live radio broadcasts from 1937 to 1941. Even though it appears that Basie and the musicians in his groups arrived fully developed, their famous rhythmic sizzle already in place, the chronological progress through the disks allows for the growing perception of Basie’s growth throughout this period as he gained more resources, recognition and confidence.

Despite the ever-present difficulties of keeping a band together, as well as the fall in popularity for big bands, Basie kept on, reconfiguring his groups as needed. Eventually, he paired down his group to an octet--but what an octet it was! With names like Clark Terry, Charlie Rouse, Serge Chaloff and Buddy DeFranco--and with arrangements by Neal Hefti--the octet was an outlet for Basie to continue in the same spirit but without the expenses of a big band.

Even though Basie started out as a Fats Waller advocate, throughout the series of recordings in the box set his style pares down to the implicit swing contained within the spaces of his minimalistic note placement, as suggested to him by Bennie Moten. Loren Schoenberg’s comprehensive, analytical and well-written liner notes propound his belief that the person responsible for the Basie rhythm section’s famous sound wasn’t Jo Jones or Basie himself, but rather bassist Walter Page. As Schoenberg put it, Page taught Basie and Jones to "bring the volume down and the intensity up" "as if they were breathing the beat." With Schoenberg’s notes providing previously unconsidered insights, the nuggets of the band’s unexpected delights become all the more evident as one listens to the recordings.

Containing elucidating contrasts between the studio sessions and the airchecks, between the free swing of the small groups and the signature elasticity of the orchestra, between the astounding tangential nature of some of Lester Young’s solos and the locked-in propulsion of the rhythm section, between the traditional references to the big bands before his and the modern development of new approaches to the music, Count Basie & His Orchestra: America’s #1 Band presents in elaborate and fascinating detail the paradoxes of Count Basie’s groups that merged into a unified, inimitable drive that remained irresistible throughout his career.

Additional Info

Artist / Group Name: Count Basie and His Orchestra
CD Title: Americas #1 Band! The Columbia Years
Genre: Big Band / Swing
Year Released: 2003
Reissue Original Release: 1936-1951
Record Label: Columbia / Legacy
Tracks: Disk 1: Shoe Shine Boy, Evenin’, Boogie Woogie, Oh Lady Be Good, I Ain’t Got Nobody, Goin’ to Chicago Blues, Live and Love Tonight, Love Me or Leave Me, Dickie’s Dream, Lester Leaps In, How Long Blues, Royal Garden Blues, Bugle Blues, Sugar Blues, Farewell Blues, Café Society Blues, Way Back Blues, St. Louis Blues, Neal’s Deal, Bluebeard Blues, The Golden Bullet, You’re My Baby You Disk 2: Song of the Islands, These Foolish Things, I’m Confessin’, One O’Clock Jump, I Ain’t Got Nobody, Little White Lies, I’ll Remember April, Tootie, Rock-a-Bye Basie, One Hour, Taxi War Dance, Twelfth Street Rag, Miss Thing Parts 1 & 2, Nobody Knows, Pound Cake, Song of the Islands, Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie, Tickle Toe, Louisiana, Easy Does It, Somebody Stole My Gal, I Want a Little Girl Disk 3: Five O’Clock Whistle, Broadway, It’s the Same Old South, Jump the Blues Away, The Jitters, 9:20 Special, Goin’ to Chicago Blues, Harvard Blues, One O’Clock Jump, It’s Sand Man, Ain’t It the Truth, Taps Miller, Avenue C, Blue Skies, Queer Street, Lazy Lady Blues, Rambo, The King, Hob Nail Boogie, Mutton Leg, Stay on It, Little Pony, Beaver Junction Disk 4: One O’Clock Jump, Swingin’ the Blues, Rock-a-Bye Basie, Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me, Time Out, Boogie Woogie Blues, Roseland Shuffle, White Sails, Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie, One O’Clock Jump, They Can’t Take That Away from Me, Swing Brother Swing, I Can’t Get Started, Moten Swing, Ebony Rhapsody, Darn That Dream, Take It Pres, Baby Don’t Tell on Me, I Got Rhythm, 9:20 Special, Elmer’s Tune, Jumpin’ at the Woodside
Musicians: Count Basie (piano, organ); Tab Smith (soprano & alto saxophones); Earle Warren, Caughey Roberts, Jimmy Powell, George Dorsey, Preston Love, Marshall Royal, Rubin Phillips (alto saxophone); Lester Young, Don Byas, Charlie Rouse, Wardell Gray, Buddy Tate, Paul Bascomb, Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Thompson, Illinois Jacquet, Herschel Evans (tenor saxophone); Jack Washington, Serge Chaloff, Charles Fowlkes (baritone saxophone); Rudy Rutherford (clarinet, baritone saxophone, alto saxophone); Buddy DeFranco (clarinet); Carl “Tatti” Smith, Buck Clayton, Shad Collins, Clark Terry, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Ed Lewis, Al Killian, Al Stearns, Emmeett Berry, Snooky Young, Joe Newman, Bob Mitchell, Al Porcino, Lamar Wright, Bobby Moore (trumpet); Dickie Wells, Dan Minor, Benny Morton, Vic Dickenson, Robert Scott, Eli Robinson , Louis Taylor, Ted Donnelly, J.J. Johnson, George Matthews, Leon Comegys, Matthew Gee, Booty Wood, George Hunt, Eddie Durham (trombone); Freddie Green (guitar); Walter Page, Jimmy Lewis, Rodney Richardson (bass); Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Gus Johnson, Shadow Wilson (drums); Jimmy Rushing, Helen Hume, Billie Holiday (vocals)
Label Website: http://www.legacyrecordings.com
Rating: Five Stars