Joe Williams

2 LPs ON 1 CD
 

Although the musical art of the early-50s Count Basie band had been widely appreciated by jazz fans and musicians even before Joe Williams joined on the Christmas Day, 1954, his arrival as the band’s vocalist put the final seal on public approval. It was a marriage made in heaven. From the first day, he won over both jazz fans and r&b audiences with his laconic, deadpan delivery and earthy, beat-rich blues declamatory style. What Joe Williams—Down Beat’s New Star of the Year—brought to the Basie band was a link to the people, a vocal bridge over which they could join themselves to the band. What Basie got in Williams was not the best blues singer of the age, nor the best ballad singer of the year, but a man who was adapted to the peculiarly complex Basie sound. It took that firmness, that strength of Williams and his qualities as a preacher, to give the band the extra excitement needed to complete the package. The blues were wailing and swinging and shouting night after night, and the riffs and figures echoed wordless phrases in response to the singer’s full-bodied vocal belting. Williams backed by the Basie band was a magical combination.

PERSONNEL on all tracks:

Count Basie & His Orchestra with
Joe Williams, Reunald Jones, Wendell Culley, Thad Jones, Joe Newman (tp)
Bill Hughes, Henry Coker, Benny Powell (tb)
Marshall Royal (as, cl), Bill Graham (as), Frank Wess (as, ts, fl)
Frank Foster (ts, arr), Charlie Fowlkes (bs, b-cl), Count Basie (p),
Freddie Green (g), Eddie Jones (b), and Sonny Payne (d).

Arrangements by Ernie Wilkins (#1,5), Frank Foster (#2,3,4,6,7,8,9), and Buddy Bregman (#12-24).


Recording locations:

(1-9) Fine Studios, New York City, May 17 & July 26, 1955.
(10-11) Universal Recordings Group, Chicago, January 23, 1956.
(12-23) Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, April 28  & May , 1956.

Original sources:

(1-9) from the Clef 12" album "Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings" (678 mono).
(10-1 from the Verve 7" single MGV-2004.
(12-23) from the Verve 12" album "The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards" (SW-90558 stereo).
(24) is an alternate take.

Tracks:

1. Every Day I Have the Blues
02. The Comeback
03. Alright, OK, You Win
04. In the Evening, When the Sun Goes Down
05. Teach Me Tonight
06. Please Send Me Someone to Love
07. My Baby Upsets Me
08. Every Day I Fall In Love
09. Roll ‘Em Pete
10. As I Love You
11. Stop! Don’t!
12. I’m Beginning to See the Light
13. Our Love Is Here to Stay
14. A Fine Romance
15. Nevertheless
16. Singin’ in the Rain
17. There Will Never Be Another You
18. My Baby Just Cares for Me
19. 'S Wonderful
20. This Can’t Be Love
21. Come Rain or Come Shine
22. I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love with Me
23. Thou Swell
24. I’m Beginning to See the Light -Alternate take

Total time: 78:00 min. aprox


Mono / Stereo 24-Bit Digitally Remastered