Best Count Basie live albums?
Greg Bailey
great studio stuff, but it dawned on me that I don't have any live
Basie in my music collection. I know there are a jillion albums of
live Basie out there on a jillion different labels, both domestic and
foreign, so I was wondering if any other Basie fans out there could
give me some specific recommendations as to the generally accepted
"top" Basie live albums. I'm especially interested in the "New
Testament"/"Atomic Band" of the late '50s but would also be interested
in earlier live stuff or radio airchecks as well. I know in his
autobiography the Count mentioned airchecks of some broadcasts from
the Famous Door in N.Y. in '38, I believe, and I think those are
available on CD now. Is that decent quality soundwise (I'm sure the
performances will be top notch)? Thanks!
Hans Christian Dörrscheidt
50s & 60s!
If I had to pick just two, I'd say
1.) 1962 Sweden tour with Louie Bellson subbing for Sonny Payne. Mosaic
released 4 CDs worth of tracks from this stint (August 8-12) in superb audio
quality as part of their 8 CD box "The Complete Roulette Live Recordings of
Count Basie and his Orchestra". There also used to be a single CD issue by
Roulette but I don't know if it's still in print.
2.) "Live at the Sands - Before Frank", recorded in 1966 and available on
Reprise.
As for other Roulette live material from the "Atomic Period", there's the
recently reissued "Breakfast Dance & Barbecue" from 1959. Harry Edison sits
in on a lenghty rendition of "One O'Clock Jump".
For the early 60s, there are two CDs with cuts from two Paris concerts,
March 29, 1960 and May 5, 1962. Obviously the Basie band made (at least) two
separate tours to Europe in 1962, because the May/Paris cuts have Sonny
Payne on drums, whereas on the August/Stockholm dates (and on the last
studio recordings for Roulette) Louie Bellson was subbing for Payne, who had
suffered severe facial injuries in a car crash in late May or June.
Then there used to be two CDs available from a 1954 Stockholm concert, which
shows the pre-Atomic New Testament band in full flight with Gus Johnson on
drums.
HCD
Vincent Kargatis
news:f2c65619.02110...@posting.google.com...
> Have been in a Basie kind of mood lately, listening to a lot of the
> great studio stuff, but it dawned on me that I don't have any live
> Basie in my music collection.
> Testament"/"Atomic Band" of the late '50s
You could certainly do worse than trying to pick up a copy of Mosaic's LIVE
ROULETTE RECORDINGS 1959-62 set. Oop, but great stuff - I see there's one
currently on ebay - probably pops up now and then.
--
Vincent Kargatis
np: Garbage - "When I Grow Up" (Version 2.0)
Joseph Scott
Southland Theater, Boston, Feb. 20, 1940, which can be found on the CD
_Count Basie The Golden Years Vol. 3 1940/1944_ on Jazz Archives/EPM.
There are various CDs of Famous Door-era stuff, the best of which is
probably _1938 at the Famous Door NYC_ on Jazz Hour, JH-3003. That CD
includes a 6-minute-plus "Woodside," a 5-minute-plus "One O'Clock
Jump," and 18 others. Next choice after that would probably be 1937 at
the Chatterbox, which is very good and interesting (quite a bit better
than 1941 at Cafe Society Uptown imo).
Joseph Scott
Chuck Nessa
might put the "Chatterbox" stuff at the top.
CN
Overbeck
Williams is also on it.
Abjorn
Abjorn
"Overbeck" <over...@inreach.com> skrev i meddelandet
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Carnak
Recorded a month before the Breakfast Dance gig by Wally
Heider, this Fresno date has great sound and superb
playing by an obviously relaxed, swingin' Atomic band.
Jazz Unlimited 1993
JUCD 2039
Carnak.
R. Lynn Rardin
<abj...@telia.com> wrote:
> The "Count on the Coast" series is vary good, too.
Are there more than two of these? I have Vols. I and II and agree
that they're both excellent.
In article <3dc71e7d...@news.mindspring.com>, Carnak
<Car...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> "Fresno, California - April 24, 1959"
I'll second this one, as well.
--
-Lynn (rar...@orion.rose.brandeis.edu)
Abjorn
The first two are "Count on the Coast vol 1" (Phontastic PHONT CD 7555) and
"Count on the Coast vol 2" (Phontastic PHONT CD 7575).
What should be "vol 3" is instead called "Basie's Golden '58" (Phontastic
PHONT NCD 8839), released in 1995.
If you haven't got it - go get it! It is as great as the other two!
Abjorn
"R. Lynn Rardin" <rar...@orion.rose.brandeis.edu> skrev i meddelandet
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Bob Orr
Just finished playing yesterday a JazzTime cd of live Basie with the Atomic
band. Recorded in late '58 or early '59 - features several tracks by Hefti
(Cute, Kid from Red Bank), a rarely heard Frank Foster solo on "Spring is
Here" and a great live version of "Corner Pocket." Only ten cuts and about
39 mniutes overall, but the sound is very good and the rhythm section of
Green, Jones and Paine is there. Plus some numbers and soloists are
introduced by the Count.
Bob Orr
"Hans Christian Dörrscheidt" <h...@surfeu.de> wrote in message
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Hans Christian Dörrscheidt
aqomsf$rjb$1...@hood.uits.indiana.edu...
> [snip]
> (Cute, Kid from Red Bank), a rarely heard Frank Foster solo on "Spring is
Are you sure you don't mean bari player Charlie Fowlkes? He used to play
"Spring is Here" during the late 1950s...
HCD