America's #1 Band: The Columbia Years

Read About This Recording

Count Basie was born August 21, 1904. To celebrate his centennial, this exciting four-CD set has been issued. Basie's sparse and percussive approach on the piano (stripping stride piano down to its bare essentials) helped to realign the function of the instruments in the rhythm section in the 1930s. From 1935 until his death in 1984, Basie led one of the most consistently popular big bands in the world, an orchestra that still tours the world and defines swing.

Basie recorded a classic small group date for Columbia in 1936 and was associated with the label during 1939-46 and 1950-51. Included on this set are the four titles from the 1936 session (including Lester Young's immortal solo on Lady Be Good), a disc and a half of small-group dates (including Count's 1950-51 septet), the best of his big band performances for Columbia, and a full disc of mostly previously unreleased live performances from the era. Such major soloists as Young, trumpeters Buck Clayton, Harry Sweets Edison and Clark Terry, tenor-saxophonist Wardell Gray and trombonist Dickie Wells are heard in their early prime. Among the many selections are such gems as Boogie Woogie, Dickie's Dream, Lester Leaps In, One O'Clock Jump, Rock-A-Bye Basie, Taxi War Dance, Tickle Toe, Goin' To Chicago Blues and Avenue C.

Every selection on this very attractive box is well worth hearing and enjoying, showing why Count Basie's music is still loved today.

-Scott Yanow

Extended Article

When, in the mid-1930s, Count Basie and His Orchestra rolled out of Kansas City on a riff tide, American music was forever changed. During the Depression the mass media, such as it was, may have bestowed upon Benny Goodman the title King of Swing, but the era's musicians and cognoscenti knew that the crown rested easily on the head of William Basie (1904-84). Cookin up instantaneous head arrangements on the bandstand or in the studio, Basie and his stellar posse (many of whom are known at once by a single nickname: Pres, Buck, Dickie, Sweets, Buddy, Jo) swung the bedrock blues as never before. And imagine the incredible thrill of seeing the Basie band jump the blues away. Disc 4 of this impeccably remastered four-CD set- ontaining 89 marvelous cuts-presents several editions of the band on the stand, with a 1937 cameo appearance by no less than Billie Holiday. The rest of the collection, spanning the years 1936 to 1951, offers Basie groups of various size, including the much-overlooked octets of 1950, the vital soloists, top-flight singers like Jimmy Rushing and Helen Humes (both full-fledged Basie-ites), the All-American Rhythm Section and, of course, the leader's piano, which remains the very soul of economy.

Contents

The Small Group Recordings, Jones-Smith, Inc.: Shoe Shine Boy; Evenin'; Boogie Woogie (I May Be Wrong); Oh, Lady Be Good; Basie's Bad Boys: I Ain't Got Nobody; Goin' To Chicago Blues; Live And Love Tonight; Love Me Or Leave Me; Count Basie's Kansas City Seven: Dickie's Dream; Lester Leaps In; Count Basie & His All-American Rhythm Section: How Long Blues; Royal Garden Blues; Bugle Blues; Sugar Blues; Farewell Blues; Cafe Society Blues; Way Back Blues; St. Louis Blues; Count Basie Octet: Neal's Deal; Bluebeard Blues; The Golden Bullet; You're My Baby, You; Song Of The Islands; These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You); I'm Confessin' (That I Love You); One O'Clock Jump; I Ain't Got Nobody; Little White Lies; I'll Remember April; Tootie; Count Basie and His Orchestra: Rock-A-Bye Basie; One Hour; Taxi War Dance; Twelfth Street Rag; Miss Thing, Parts 1 & 2; Nobody Knows (Take 1); 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; 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; At the Famous Door: 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; At the Savoy Ballroom: They Can't Take That Away From Me; Swing, Brother, Swing; At The Meadowbrook Lounge: I Can't Get Started; At The Panther Room: Moten Swing; At The Southland Theatre Restaurant: Ebony Rhapsody; Darn That Dream; Take It, Pres; Baby, Don't Tell On Me; I Got Rhythm; At Cafe Society Uptown: 9:20 Special; Elmer's Tune; Jumpin' At The Woodside.

Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Vocals; Count Basie, Piano; Carl Tatti Smith, Buck Clayton, Shad Collins, Clark Terry, Harry Sweets Edison, Ed Lewis, Al Killian, Joe Newman, Al Stearns, Emmett Berry, Snooky Young, Bobby Moore, Bob Mitchell, Al Porcino, Lamar Wright, Trumpets; Eddie Durham, George Hunt, Booty Wood, Matthew Gee, Leon Comegys, George Matthews, J.J. Johnson, Louis Taylor, Dickie Wells, Dan Minor, Benny Morton, Vic Dickenson, Ed Cuffee, Robert Scott, Eli Robinson, Ted Muttonleg' Donnelly, Trombones; Buddy DeFranco, Clarinet; Rudy Rutherford, Baritone & Alto Sax/Clarinet; Serge Chaloff, Jack Washington, Charlie Fowlkes, Baritone Saxes; Tab Smith, Soprano/Alto Sax; Preston Love, George Dorsey, Earle Warren, Caughey Roberts, Jimmy Powell, Marshall Royal, Rubin Phillips, Alto Saxes; Herschel Evans, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Don Byas, Charlie Rouse, Wardell Gray, Buddy Tate, Paul Bascomb, Lucky Thompson, Illinois Jacquet, Tenor Saxes; Walter Page, Jimmy Lewis, Rodney Richardson, Basses; Freddie Green, Guitar; Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Gus Johnson, Shadow Wilson, Drums.

CD Special Features

A sensational 4-CD overview of the classic Basie Columbia Band!