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Reviewers: Don Mather, Dick Stafford, Marc Bridle, John Eyles, Ian Lace, Colin Clarke, Jack Ashby




Crotchet

COUNT BASIE

"ONE O’CLOCK JUMP"

NAXOS Jazz Legends – 8.120662

 

 

1

Shoe Shine Boy

12

Jumpin’ At The Woodside

2

Evenin’

13

How Long How Long Blues

3

Boogie Woogie

14

Mama Don’ Wan’ No Peas An’ Rice An’ Coconut Oil

4

Lady Be Good

15

Dark Rapture

5

One O’Clock Jump

16

Red Wagon

6

Good Morning Blues

17

Stop Beatin’ Round The Mulberry Bush

7

Swingin’ At The Daisy Chain

18

Blue And Sentimental

8

John’s Idea

19

Do You Wanna Jump, Children?

9

Don’t You Miss Your Baby

20

Swingin’ The Blues

10

Topsy

   

11

Sent For You Yesterday And Here You Come Today

   

Count Basie – "One O’Clock Jump" features original recordings by the Basie band between 1936 –1939. It was full of key figures including Lester Young, Herschel Evans, Buck Clayton, Eddie Durham, Dicky Wells, Walter Page, Jo Jones and Freddy Green. Jimmy ‘Mr. Five-by-Five’ Rushing who stayed with the band until 1948 sings on seven tracks and Helen Humes takes the vocal responsibility on Dark Rapture.

The sound made by the Basie band was authentic and the rhythm section of Basie, Page and Jones, later augmented with Freddy Green, was renowned for its balance and cohesion. This formed a base for the many talented soloists within the orchestra. Although there is nothing new here, Naxos have gone to great lengths to reproduce these early recordings ensuring that they achieve ‘the best and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide.’

In such compilations it would have been remiss of the producers to exclude Basie’s classic hits such as One O’Clock Jump, Swinging The Blues and Jumpin’ At The Woodside but all twenty tracks have their individual qualities. In the accompanying notes Peter Dempsey sums things up by saying that by 1938, ‘the Basie Orchestra had assumed its rightful niche as one of the leading big-bands of the Swing Era.’ This CD captures the qualities of an excellent orchestra that excited fans for more than forty years.

Jack Ashby

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