Count Basie Orchestra - Live at Birdland / 2CD set

2021 CD release.

The repertoire chosen for the double set features Basie gems and also some new songs. Carmen Bradford conveys love and longing on “Only the Young” and swings her way through “Honeysuckle Rose.” Scotty Barnhart puts both his arranging skills and virtuosity on full display on “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” and “There Will Never Be Another You.” On “Moten Swing,” his solo is so soulful and so swinging that by the time he finishes his statement you’re too busy to notice just how technically difficult it is. The track “Four Five Six” begins with an extended piano solo and shows the band still has the swingingest rhythm section in the world. This Frank Foster original wasn’t written with an extended piano solo out front but Scotty put it there because of how well it sets up the tune. “This is classic Basie on the blues, Scotty remarks. “Unmistakable. It’s swingin’ so hard that even before the full orchestra enters, the crowd is already clapping along and shouting feel good comments. This is what great Jazz is about – making people feel good. This is the reaction we get every time we play and it’s especially magnetic during the top of the last chorus of the tenor sax solo by Doug Lawrence. That track defines the recording for me. It’s the blues, features several soloists and grows in excitement each chorus until the end.”

Pianist and bandleader William James “Count” Basie was and still is an American institution that personifies the grandeur and excellence of Jazz. The Count Basie Orchestra, today directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for Kings, Queens, and other world Royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world.

    - Disc 1 -
    1 Introduction
    2 The Kid from Red Bank
    3 Who, Me?
    4 Way Out Basie
    5 In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
    6 Doodle Oodle
    7 Four Five Six
    8 Basie Power
    9 Honeysuckle Rose
    10 Only the Young
    11 I Can't Give You Anything But Love
    12 Easin' It
    13 What's New
    14 Kansas City Shout
    15 How Do You Keep the Music Playing
    16 Basie
    17 One 'O Clock Jump
    - Disc 2 -

    1 The Wind Machine
    2 April in Paris
    3 There Will Never Be Another You
    4 I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
    5 I Needs to Be Bee'd with
    6 Flute Juice
    7 Moten Swing
    8 Blues in Hoss' Flat
    9 Once in a While
    10 Five 'O Clock in the Morning
    11 Shiny Stockings
    12 What Kind of Fool Am I
    13 'Deed I Do
    14 From One to Another
    15 Whirly Bird
    16 One O' Clock Jump (Short)