Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
One of the best Basie LPs - its a mid 50s recording, from the period when big bands were deemed a thing of the past - even Basie had temporarily disbanded his ensemble in the period leading up to this LP.
The previous album was the famous "Atomic" LP - but for this album Basie made a change; He decided to look to his own bandmembers to write & arrange the material. They - notably Frank Foster (Tenor), Thad Jones (trumpet) & Frank Wess (alto)- responded with a wicked LP! Half the tracks on this album are a direct nod to the bands Kansas roots; they're straight up blues tunes.
Read any internet Basie bio and you'll see that "Atomic Basie", "April In Paris" and any DECCA era compilation are rightly praised and deemed intro points to Basie. I'm surprised this wonderful record isn't always added to that list.
Defintely get this.
The previous album was the famous "Atomic" LP - but for this album Basie made a change; He decided to look to his own bandmembers to write & arrange the material. They - notably Frank Foster (Tenor), Thad Jones (trumpet) & Frank Wess (alto)- responded with a wicked LP! Half the tracks on this album are a direct nod to the bands Kansas roots; they're straight up blues tunes.
Read any internet Basie bio and you'll see that "Atomic Basie", "April In Paris" and any DECCA era compilation are rightly praised and deemed intro points to Basie. I'm surprised this wonderful record isn't always added to that list.
Defintely get this.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It ought to go without saying that the Count Basie band of the 1950s was not the Count Basie band of the later 1930s. For one thing the former band possessed a different order of soloists, which was blessed indeed to have Lester Young in its ranks. But perhaps the most fundamental difference lay in the dynamics of the music that each band produced. By the later decade the tight-but-loose feeling of the band had been usurped by a kind of precision which was hardly regimented for all of its relative formality. Rhythmically however the holdovers of Basie himself on piano and rhythm guitarist Freddie Greene ensured continuity.
The album under discussion here dates from 1958 and it highlights just what a formidable force this band was. Frank Wess was a stalwart of it. His `Segue In C" is a kind of unassuming master class in dynamics, with the `heart' of Basie and Greene imparting momentum through extraordinarily minimal means. By way of celebrating the difference the piece also features a duo of flute and clarinet the like of which would have had no place in the earlier band.
Thad Jones not only sat in this band's trumpet section, he also composed for it. As arguably the logical end to a strand of big band writing traceable back to the pre-war work of Don Redman, Jones's work was ideally suited to the Basie aggregation, and by way of underlining the point his "Speaking Of Sounds" is a model of economy the like of which the band obviously relishes, as does Frank Foster in his tenor sax solo.
"Moten Swing" however takes us right back even while it highlights what a different order of dynamics this particular band dealt in. Basie the pianist is all over it, in so far as that's a reflection of the truth given how minimal his playing habitually was.
But in the end it's the business of dynamics that makes all the difference. This was a band forged in a mill the like of which just doesn't exist anymore and that's all there is to it.
The album under discussion here dates from 1958 and it highlights just what a formidable force this band was. Frank Wess was a stalwart of it. His `Segue In C" is a kind of unassuming master class in dynamics, with the `heart' of Basie and Greene imparting momentum through extraordinarily minimal means. By way of celebrating the difference the piece also features a duo of flute and clarinet the like of which would have had no place in the earlier band.
Thad Jones not only sat in this band's trumpet section, he also composed for it. As arguably the logical end to a strand of big band writing traceable back to the pre-war work of Don Redman, Jones's work was ideally suited to the Basie aggregation, and by way of underlining the point his "Speaking Of Sounds" is a model of economy the like of which the band obviously relishes, as does Frank Foster in his tenor sax solo.
"Moten Swing" however takes us right back even while it highlights what a different order of dynamics this particular band dealt in. Basie the pianist is all over it, in so far as that's a reflection of the truth given how minimal his playing habitually was.
But in the end it's the business of dynamics that makes all the difference. This was a band forged in a mill the like of which just doesn't exist anymore and that's all there is to it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Newcastle City Hall, October 1957....how this takes me back....I agree entirely with the previous reviewer in his praise of this great CD.Typical Basie of the period. Superb musicianship from all concerned coupled with swing, drive and dynamics like no other band could produce make this an exciting album.The superb stereo recording could have been made yesterday, not 50 odd years ago.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
