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Music : Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Count Basie
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Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Count Basie by: Count Basie |
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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0731454909020 Label: Polygram Records Manufacturer: Polygram Records Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Polygram Records Release Date: November 07, 2000 Studio: Polygram Records Sales Rank: 43452 MPN: 549090 Disc 1:
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Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Like many artists in the series of CDs accompanying Ken Burns's 10-part documentary Jazz, Count Basie did some label hopping through his career. This makes a definitive greatest-hits collection rather difficult. Another complicating factor is Basie's unflappable evenness. His music was almost always on the money, mixing lithe swing with hard-punching riffs and rhythms with awesome balance. This 19-song collection begins with Basie at the piano in Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra for 1932's "Toby." They're kicking much harder than Basie would later advocate in his own bands, but the light's burning no less bright for that. The 10 tracks following "Toby" show Basie the bandleader chugging in the late 1930s with an all-star cast. Lester Young's blowing cool tenor while the band bounces on "John's Idea" and "Jumpin' at the Woodside." The set shifts to the 1940s with "9:20 Special" and then to the 1950s with "Softly, with Feeling." The final five tunes, all dating from the mid-1950s, find Basie laying back, not resting on any laurels, but celebrating the grooves he pioneered two decades before. If there was one missing element here, it might be Decca-era Jimmy Rushing belting out "Sent for You Yesterday," but that's quibbling with an almost bulletproof set that's spectacular. --Andrew Bartlett Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Hardly "Definitive" - But Not BadIf you open up the insert, which contains four pages of background notes written by pianist/arranger Brian Priestley in May 2000, one page about the Ken Burns film on jazz, and a track-by-track listing of the personnel on each, the complete title says "The Definitive Count Basie." That's open to conjecture as there are many of the Count's big hits omitted in favour of some relatively obscure stuff - still very good, mind you, but not exactly among his more memorable works. The hit single, after all, was what brought home the bacon back before the days of the LP and EP and, for the most part, was what we heard on the radio. These were any artist's most popular tunes and what made them stars, and in the case of the Count ... Read More: Rating: - "One More Once"!While other swing bands may have had a lot more hits Count Basie's band had IMHO had the best players. I consider myself very fortunate in having seen Basie & his band several years berfore he died. It was a night I'll never forget they were certified group of solid swing cats, they weren't just tight, but born at the hip. This is probably the best 1 disc CD of Basie's music out there & THE best disc in the Ken Burns series. Enjoy! Rating: - Great Introduction.Although Count Basie released some great albums, his work is better suited to Ken Burn's compilations as there are numerous great individual tracks in Basie's work. In fact the compilations in Ken Burns's series work better for the earlier musicians as the later ones are much more album orientated. The music on the first half of this album sets the standard for swing. The rolling riffs of 'Toby', Basie's effortlessly cool piano playing on '1 o'clock jump', the loud interjections of 'Topsy' and of course the pure rhythm and heavy riffing of 'Jumpin' at the Woodside' with the brilliant Lester Young. The pace only slows for 'Blue and Sentimental' before the frenetic 'Doggin' Around', where countless riffs are crammed into a shorter space, ... Read More: Rating: - GREAT!!!A great album! ( In case you do not know, this album is part of a Ken Burns series called "Jazz" ) I honestly do not know how they fit so many songs onto one CD, but they did it! MUSIC ITSELF: 5 SOUND QUALITY: 5 COVER, INSIDE: 5 JUST PLAIN COOL: YES Rating: - A great collection of Basie hitsA terrific overview of the Count's career, spanning the years 1932 to 1957. This cd does as much as one cd can possibly do, for an artist as popular and prolific as Basie and his Orchestra. It is a great place to start discovering their music. Included are a couple of vocals, one with Jimmy Rushing, "Goin' to Chicago", and the immensely popular hit "Every day I have the Blues" with Joe Williams. And the sound is pretty good too, even the songs from the '30's. There is a very little hiss on some, but nothing too noticable, unlike some of the other Ken Burn's releases. The 12 page booklet contains a couple of photos and a 3 page essay on Basie. |
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