Jul 152013
Breakfast Dance & Barbecue
The Basie Band thrived in the kind of after-hours party that was the setting of this 1959 live recording in Miami. The original LP had eight tracks; this remixed reissue adds an incredible 10 bonus tracks for a long set of Basie at his best! Includes One O’Clock Jump; Moten Swing; Every Day I Have the Blues; Splanky; In a Mellow Tone; Roll ‘em Pete , and more-six featuring Joe Williams!
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Best CD of the Best Basie Band,
In my opinion the Basie band in 1959-1961 was the greatest of his second generation orchestras. All 16 bandsmen were individually talented and played swinging arrangements with cohesion and enthusiasm. There were no second or third horns; all were first chair musicians capable of memorable solos. There was not a slouch in the bunch. When they played as an ensemble, they were awesome.
This CD is taken from a tape of a breakfast dance for the Disc Jockeys of America convention on May 31, 1959. The dance for 2000+ people started at 2am and ended at 7am. Basie and his band had been booked at Birdland that week. The band flew to Miami late at night, played the gig and then returned to NYC in time for their scheduled performance at Birdland that evening.
This CD is a recording of the entire dance program as it was presented at the Americana Hotel, start to finish. The remastering is superb; you feel like you are right there on the dance floor. The band is understandably a little stiff at first, but they warm to the occassion quickly. After a few tracks they hit a groove like I have never before on any Basie CD. This is Basie and the Basie band at its finest. I have never heard Joe Williams sing better.
This Basie band loved to shout! Check out “Splanky”, “Cherry Point”, “Roll em Pete”, “Back to the Apple” and “Everyday I Have The Blues”. The closing theme “One O’Clock Jump” is 3:40 minutes and features Sweets Edison minus mute. There are 18 tracks total; all in dance tempos. It is said that Basie fed upon the energies of those listening and particularly from dancers. It must have been some morning.
Thank you Roulette for releasing this. The only downer are Chris Sheridan’s album notes. Mr. Sheridan does his usual accurate recount of history and attention to detail, but his use of words like antiphony, onamatopoeic and spiky detract from his review. But then my advice is don’t read — just listen, remember and enjoy what music used to be.
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|Basie for Breakfast!,
More scholarly listeners than myself can assure you that this is a first-rate live recording of one of the world’s greatest jazz bands in its prime, but I must sound a sentimental personal note. My Dad was an enthusiastic and erudite jazz fan and a great admirer of Count Basie. During an especially happy time in my early life, Dad and I became so attached to this particularly joyful Basie album, featuring gorgeous Joe Williams vocals, that we played it every morning all summer — before, during and after breakfast. What a thrill to hear this classic reborn on CD with many extra tracks. Try it for your own breakfast, whether you dance or not!
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|great live recording,
of the late 50′s-early 60′s Basie Band,. Big Joe Williams is back with the band and he is sounding great. Recorded live at a radio convention that the Basie Band flew in for in Florida, it started in the wee hours of the morning and into the early morning. They flew in for the gig, played, and then flew out again. On this particular occasion, everybody’s sounding loose and the band can really swing. This is from the Count’s Roulette year’s output and it is one of the finest.
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