Count Basie - Kansas City - VINYL LP

Basie Jam is two sides of some of the best swing ever recorded. This record was produced by Norman Granz and Pablo Records. Granz, responsible for one of the greatest jazz labels ever - Verve - knew what he was doing in a studio.The Big Band sound of Count Basie and the other orchestra leaders dominated dance halls and the airwaves for almost two decades. This late 1973 session features the Count with an eight-piece band. As the title indicates, this recording is like a jam session, so all the tracks are based around the blues. After a classic Basie Piano intro the first track 'Doubling Blues' swings like mad, but then you notice there's something different going on when the solos start. What's different is that Basie is playing Organ for most of the rest of the track and the difference is amazing. The little Piano phrases that we're all so used to hearing Basie play aren't there. Then after six minutes the piano comes back in and we finish track with Basie as we started.For more of Basie's organ playing have a listen to 'One-Nighter' - a lovely medium tempo number on which he plays a restrained introductory solo, before Zoot Sims plays the opening tenor sax solo.The running time is just under 50 minutes, and with only five tracks on the album that tells you that the musicians were given plenty of opportunity to stretch out. They do, and it's well worth getting a copy of this album.Cut from metal parts mastered by Doug Sax from the original analog master tape. Pressed at Quality Record Pressings for superior sound quality, and housed in a handsome Stoughton Printing tip-on gatefold jacket.180-gram vinylCut from parts mastered by Doug Sax from the original analog master tapePressed at Quality Record PressingsHoused in Stoughton Printing tip-on gatefold jacketTracklist Side 11. Doubling Blues (6 57)2. Hanging Out (9 23)3. Red Bank Blues (8 50)Side 21. One-Nighter (11 30

Producer Norman Granz was an associate of Duke Ellington's for many years, and it is not surprising that his labels have frequently hosted Ellington tributes that bring out the best in the participating world-class musicians. Although Clark Terry is the only participant in the present celebration to have logged significant time as an Ellingtonian, all hands draw sustenance from the unbeatable material here. Of special interest are the tracks on which Zoot Sims plays soprano sax, especially the neglected 'Tonight I Shall Sleep,' and Sarah Vaughan's pair of urbane and intense vocals, accompanied only by the guitar of album-MVP Joe Pass and pianist Mike Wofford. Mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tape, and pressed at Quality Record Pressings for optimal sound quality, this Analogue Productions 180-gram reissue is everything jazz fans expect from an audiophile reissue. Housed in a Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket. Album Tracks 1. Side A 2. 1. Caravan (Quadrant) 3. 2. Happy Go Lucky Local (Clark Terry) 4. 3. Tonight I Shall Sleep (Zoot Sims) 5. 4. I Ain't Got Nothin But the Blues (Sarah Vaughan) 6. 5. Come Sunday (Clark Terry) 7. Side B 8. 1. Everything But You (Sarah Vaughan) 9. 2. Take the 'A' Train (Quadrant) 10. 3. Rockin in Rhythm (Zoot Sims) 11. 4. Echoes of Harlem (Clark Terry) 12. 5. Main Stem (Quadrant)

Anyone who ever heard Count Basie launch his band into a blues with several choruses of effortless piano has lamented that there is far too little of Basie the soloist among his recorded legacy. This shortage was rectified to a certain extent by the trio albums Basie made with Ray Brown and Louis Bellson in the Seventies, of which this is the sequel to the For the First Time set of the previous year.Once again, Basie's poetic introductions, precise calibrations of touch and coloration, and definitive swing create a joyous program of four venerable standards and an equal number of new blues. Bellson is empathetic throughout and dances with his brushes on 'Sandman,' while Brown's robust tone and earth-moving walking lines bring out the best in Basie the soloist and accompanist.Mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tape, and pressed at Quality Record Pressings for optimal sound quality, this Analogue Productions 180-gram reissue is a reissue jazz fans and audiophiles alike will treasure. Housed in a single pocket Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket.180-gram vinylMastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapePressed at Quality Record PressingsHoused in Stoughton Printing tip-on single pocket jacketTracklist Side A1. Sandman2. If I could Be With You One Hour Tonight3. Draw4. On The Sunny Side of the StreetSide B1. The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else2. Blues for Eric3. I Surrender, Dear4. Racehorse