Count Basie

PLUS 2 BONUS TRACKS

INCLUDES FREE MP3 ALBUM DOWNLOAD

In October 1957, Count Basie recorded the album E=MC2, also known as The Atomic Mr. Basie, which became one of the top-hit LPs by the Basie band. The release of that album in late 1957 marked the beginning of a glorious new phase in Count Basie’s career during a time in which sustaining a big band was extremely difficult due to the change of musical tastes (for a while Basie even contented himself with leading small groups ranging from sextets to octets). That album would have the same importance for Basie as the Newport ’56 concert and subsequent album would have for Ellington. Both Ellington and Basie were extremely rare in being able to sustain their big bands for the rest of their careers (both bands even subsisted for a while after their leaders’ deaths; Basie died in 1984).

Given the album’s success, Basie was allowed to continue recording regularly notwithstanding the emergence of rock & roll and other massively popular musical styles, and, ten years after the making of The Atomic Mr. Basie, the Count recorded the superb album presented here, consisting of Hollywood songs arranged by Cuban star Chico O’Farrill (1921-2001).

PERSONNEL:

COUNT BASIE and His Orchestra:

Harry “Sweets” Edison, Gene Goe, Sonny Cohn, Al Aarons (tp),
Grover Mitchell, Richard Boone, Harlan “Booby” Floyd (tb),
Bill Hughes (b-tb), Marshall Royal (as, cl), Jerry Dodgion (as, fl),
Billy Mitchell, Eric Dixon (ts), Charlie Fowlkes (bar, fl), Count Basie (p, org), Freddie Green (g),
Norman Keenan (b), Ed Shaughnessy (d), Chico O’Farrill (arr).

New York, December 14 (A1-A3 & B6),
December 21 (A4, A6, B2 & B5), 1966
& January 16, 1967 (A5, B1 & B3-B4).

*BONUS TRACKS:
Roy Eldridge, Gene Goe, Al Aarons, Sonny Cohn (tp),
Grover Mitchell, Richard Boone, Harlan “Booby” Floyd (tb),
Bill Hughes (b-tb), Marshall Royal (as, cl), Bobby Plater (as, fl),
Eric Dixon (ts, fl), Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis (ts), Charlie Fowlkes (bar),
Count Basie (p), Freddie Green (g), Norman Keenan (b)
Ed Shaughnessy (d), Chico O’Farrill (arr).

New York, August 18 (A7) & September 7 (B7), 1966.

SIDE A:

01 SECRET LOVE (2:50)
02 LAURA [From Laura] (2:26)
03 IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT [From Rosalie] (1:58)
04 A FOGGY DAY [From A Damsel in Distress] (2:10)
05 THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE [From The Sandpiper] (3:22)
06 THE TROLLEY SONG [From Meet Me in St. Louis] (2:17)
07 JUST IN TIME [From the Broadway play Bells Are Ringing] (3:08)*

SIDE B:

01 STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT [From A Man Could Get Killed] (2:56)
02 A FINE ROMANCE [From Swing Time] (2:17)
03 CARIOCA [From Flying Down to Rio] (2:56)
04 HURRY SUNDOWN BLUES [From Hurry Sundown] (2:45)
05 IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING [From State Fair] (2:22)
06 DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES [From Days of Wine and Roses] (2:44)
07 IT’S ALL RIGHT WITH ME [From the Broadway play Can Can] (2:36)*