COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA - Basie At Birdland:
Recorded at the Jazz Corner of the World
Pure Pleasure PPAN R 152065 Vinyl 2 LP.
Count Basie Orchestra including Thad Jones (t); Benny Powell, Quentin Jackson (tb); Frank Foster (ts); Frank Wess (ts, f); Freddie Green (g); Eddie Jones (b); Sonny Payne (d) Birdland NYC 27 &28 June 1961
Basie considered Birdland to be his musical home and so did everybody else in jazz back in the day. This 2 LP vinyl set was originally issued as a single disc on Roulette Records in 1961. LP 2 gives us a whole album of alternate takes and three new pieces. The orchestra is on top form here, close to the famous ‘Atomic Basie’ sound of the late 1950s. He had lost Al Grey, Billy Mitchell and Joe Newman by 1961 but had admirable replacements in Lennie Johnson, Quentin Jackson and Budd Johnson. Producer Teddy Reig promoted this Basie unit as well as he documented and recorded most of the early bop sessions in the 1940s on Savoy Records. It is said that he was the one who encouraged Basie to start every selection off with a piano introduction because only he could find and settle into a perfect tempo for each piece. Well it worked a treat as the tunes on these two discs demonstrate admirably. All the compositions here begin with Basie and that smooth, piano, guitar, bass and drum sequence before Payne crashes out an explosion on his kit and brings in the horns with a flourish.
The orchestra roar into Little Pony on LP 1 and never look back. Whirly Bird was first heard on The Atomic LP from Roulette and here is just as swinging as the original although this one has a wild scat vocal by Jon Hendricks inserted. Side 2 of the first disc has Segue in C, a long track that swings compulsively at medium tempo and features Frank Wess on tenor sax. The unmistakable speech like lines of Quentin Jackson’s trombone are heard to good effect here on Good Time Blues before the band swings healthily into One-O- Clock Jump. There is a second, all instrumental version of Whirly Bird and a shorter reading of Segue In C on the second LP and strong solo work from Frank Foster, Jackson again and Wess. The orchestra are in their element at Birdland, the club being like a home to them on their many appearances. Easin’ It, Corner Pocket and I Need To Be Bee’d With are all featured with strong solo and ensemble work. At this time, the sixteen men swinging could do no wrong and were in their prime. Four years earlier I caught the orchestra live at a midnight concert in the Royal Festival Hall in London and they sounded remarkably similar to the music on these LPs.
The two discs have been expertly remastered for vinyl by Pure Pleasure Records, bringing the crisp ensemble unisons and floating solos out very clearly. Towards the end of two tracks you can even hear the voice of Birdland’s diminutive MC Pee Wee Marquette shouting out his appreciation of the music. I bet all the patrons on these felt the same.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
Recorded at the Jazz Corner of the World
Pure Pleasure PPAN R 152065 Vinyl 2 LP.
Count Basie Orchestra including Thad Jones (t); Benny Powell, Quentin Jackson (tb); Frank Foster (ts); Frank Wess (ts, f); Freddie Green (g); Eddie Jones (b); Sonny Payne (d) Birdland NYC 27 &28 June 1961
Basie considered Birdland to be his musical home and so did everybody else in jazz back in the day. This 2 LP vinyl set was originally issued as a single disc on Roulette Records in 1961. LP 2 gives us a whole album of alternate takes and three new pieces. The orchestra is on top form here, close to the famous ‘Atomic Basie’ sound of the late 1950s. He had lost Al Grey, Billy Mitchell and Joe Newman by 1961 but had admirable replacements in Lennie Johnson, Quentin Jackson and Budd Johnson. Producer Teddy Reig promoted this Basie unit as well as he documented and recorded most of the early bop sessions in the 1940s on Savoy Records. It is said that he was the one who encouraged Basie to start every selection off with a piano introduction because only he could find and settle into a perfect tempo for each piece. Well it worked a treat as the tunes on these two discs demonstrate admirably. All the compositions here begin with Basie and that smooth, piano, guitar, bass and drum sequence before Payne crashes out an explosion on his kit and brings in the horns with a flourish.
The orchestra roar into Little Pony on LP 1 and never look back. Whirly Bird was first heard on The Atomic LP from Roulette and here is just as swinging as the original although this one has a wild scat vocal by Jon Hendricks inserted. Side 2 of the first disc has Segue in C, a long track that swings compulsively at medium tempo and features Frank Wess on tenor sax. The unmistakable speech like lines of Quentin Jackson’s trombone are heard to good effect here on Good Time Blues before the band swings healthily into One-O- Clock Jump. There is a second, all instrumental version of Whirly Bird and a shorter reading of Segue In C on the second LP and strong solo work from Frank Foster, Jackson again and Wess. The orchestra are in their element at Birdland, the club being like a home to them on their many appearances. Easin’ It, Corner Pocket and I Need To Be Bee’d With are all featured with strong solo and ensemble work. At this time, the sixteen men swinging could do no wrong and were in their prime. Four years earlier I caught the orchestra live at a midnight concert in the Royal Festival Hall in London and they sounded remarkably similar to the music on these LPs.
The two discs have been expertly remastered for vinyl by Pure Pleasure Records, bringing the crisp ensemble unisons and floating solos out very clearly. Towards the end of two tracks you can even hear the voice of Birdland’s diminutive MC Pee Wee Marquette shouting out his appreciation of the music. I bet all the patrons on these felt the same.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
