120736bk Basie2 2/9/04 10:20 PM Page 2 1. Rock-A-Bye Basie 3:06 9. How Long Blues 3:02 16. Let Me See 2:48 Recorded in New York except as noted (Shad Collins–Lester Young–Count Basie) (Leroy Carr) (Harry Edison–Count Basie) Transfers & Production: David Lennick Vocalion 4747, mx W 24239-1 Jimmie Rushing, vocal OKeh 6330, mx WCO 26600-A Digital Restoration: K&A Productions Recorded 19 March 1939 Vocalion 5010, mx WC 2634-A Recorded 20 March 1940 Recorded 24 June 1939, Chicago Original monochrome photo of Count Basie 2. Baby, Don’t Tell On Me 2:57 17. Blow Top 2:56 from Michael Ochs Archives / Redferns (Lester Young–Count Basie–Jimmie Rushing) 10. Dickie’s Dream 3:13 (Tab Smith) Jimmie Rushing, vocal (Lester Young–Count Basie) OKeh 5629, mx WCO 26870-B Vocalion 4747, mx W 24240-1 Count Basie's Kansas City Seven Recorded 31 May 1940 Personnel Recorded 19 March 1939 Vocalion 5118, mx B 25296-1 18. Gone With “What” Wind 2:48 COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA 3. Jump For Me 3:13 Recorded 5 September 1939 (Count Basie–Benny Goodman) Buck Clayton, Ed Lewis, Harry “Sweets” (Count Basie) 11. Lester Leaps In 3:16 OKeh 5629, mx WCO 26871-B Edison, Shad Collins, trumpet; Dickie Wells, Vocalion 4886, mx W 24244-1 (Lester Young) Recorded 31 May 1940 Benny Morton, Dan Minor, trombones; Earl Recorded 20 March 1939 Count Basie's Kansas City Seven 19. Super Chief 3:27 Warren, alto; Lester Young, Buddy Tate, 4. Twelfth Street Rag 3:06 Vocalion 5118, mx B 25297-1 (Jimmy Mundy) tenors; Jack Washington, baritone & alto; (James S. Sumner–Euday L. Bowman) Recorded 5 September 1939 OKeh 5673, mx WCO 26872-A Count Basie, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Vocalion 4886, mx W 24339-A 12. I Left My Baby 3:15 Recorded 31 May 1940 Walter Page, bass; Jo Jones, drums Recorded 5 April 1939 (Andy Gibson) 5. And The Angels Sing 3:07 Jimmie Rushing, vocal (Ziggy Elman–Johnny Mercer) Columbia 35321, mx WCO 26277-A Also available in the Naxos Jazz Legends series ... Helen Humes, vocal Recorded 6 November 1939 Vocalion 4784, mx W 24337-A 13. Riff Interlude 3:08 Recorded 5 April 1939 (Count Basie) 6. Miss Thing 5:37 Columbia 35321, mx WCO 26278-A (Count Basie–Skip Martin) Recorded 6 November 1939 Vocalion 48609, mx W 24340-A 14. Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Recorded 24341-A; 5 April 1939 Sea 2:35 7. Nobody’s Knows 2:47 (Harold Arlen–Ted Koehler) (Jimmie Rushing–Lester Young–Count Basie) Helen Humes, vocal Jimmie Rushing, vocal; Count Basie, organ Columbia 35357, mx WCO 26820-A; Vocalion 5169, mx WC 2596-C Recorded 7 November 1939 (2:30) Recorded 19 May 1939, Chicago 15. Easy Does It 3:28 8.120662* 8.120677* 8.120738* (Sy Oliver–Lester Young) 8. Pound Cake 2:45 * Not available in the USA (Harry Edison–Count Basie) Columbia 35448, mx WCO 26659-A Recorded 20 March 1940 Vocalion 5085, mx WC 2597-C NAXOS RADIO Over 50 Channels of Classical Music • Jazz, Folk/World, Nostalgia Recorded 19 May 1939, Chicago www.naxosradio.com Accessible Anywhere, Anytime • Near-CD Quality 5 8.120736 6 8.120736 120736bk Basie2 2/9/04 10:20 PM Page 1 COUNT BASIE barest essentials and developed into a master at and Basie getting the main solos. ballad’, finds Basie and Clayton setting the Let Me See is a romp that puts Tate, Basie, Vol.2 using space and making every note count. With Twelfth Street Rag, which was already a stage for Jimmy Rushing. trombonist Vic Dickenson and Young in the ‘Rock-A-Bye Basie’ Original Recordings 1939-1940 guitarist Freddie Green and bassist Walter Page vintage song by 1939, was an off-the-wall choice Since many of the recordings by the Count spotlight. contributing a steady four-to-the-bar rhythm, for Basie to record. Count does not take the Basie Orchestra have the big band emulating a With the addition of altoist Tab Smith to drummer Jo Jones was free to lighten his style song all that seriously but Lester Young digs in small group, it was only natural that on an the band in May 1940, the Count Basie Count Basie was not only one of the giants of in Kansas City. Moten, himself a pianist, (de-emphasizing the use of the bass drum) and and creates a classic solo that could have been occasional basis Basie would record with some Orchestra had eight major soloists (counting the swing era but his big band has always thought so highly of Basie’s playing that he used the Basie band had the appearance of floating twice as long; Sweets fares well too. of his top soloists in a smaller combo. His Clayton, Edison, Wells, Dickenson, Young, Tate defined swing. Although Basie first came to him on all of his recordings during 1929-32. even when swinging hard. The contrasting tenor Helen Humes, one of the finest vocalists to session of 5 September 1939 with his Kansas and Basie) plus several others who were quite prominence more than a year after Benny Other than a brief period in 1934, Basie tones of Lester Young (who had a revolutionary emerge from the big bands, often had to fight City Seven resulted in a couple classics named capable of being in the lead. The romping Blow Goodman launched the swing era, his orchestra remained with Moten until the latter’s death in lighter-than-air sound) and the harder style of with Rushing in order to get good songs to sing after his sidemen, Dickie’s Dream and Lester Top has Smith, Basie, Edison and Dickenson soon became extremely influential and not only 1935 from a botched tonsillectomy. A short Buddy Tate, who had recently succeeded the late because she was expert at singing the same type Leaps In. The eccentric Wells, the lyrical making short statements but Lester Young uplifted swing but led the way towards bebop time later, Basie began leading the Barons of Herschel Evans, added to the excitement as did of blues and standards as “Mr. Five By Five”. Clayton and Young are the co-stars on Dickie’s stealing the show. Gone With ‘What’ Wind is a (in the realignment of its rhythm section) and Rhythm. He gained his lifelong nickname of such key soloists as trumpeters Buck Clayton And The Angels Sing, a hit for Benny Goodman Dream while Young (who was nicknamed Pres blues that had its origin on a Benny Goodman cool jazz (in the soft tone of tenor-saxophonist “Count” from a radio announcer. and Harry “Sweets” Edison and trombonist in 1939, shows off her warm voice. for being the president of the tenor) dominates Sextet session with Basie as guest pianist. Lester Young). Beginning with a nucleus from the Moten Dickie Wells. The Count Basie band often gave the Lester Leaps In, which became one of his Basie, Tate, Dickenson solo on this version. Bill Basie was born 21 August 1904 in Red band, Basie soon had a swinging outfit featuring Rock-A-Bye Basie, a riffing melody that impression that they could jam for twenty trademark songs. Finally the collection closes with Super Chief Bank, New Jersey. As a teenager he was singer Jimmy Rushing, drummer Jo Jones, sounds so spontaneous that it seems as if it minutes on a song without running out of ideas, The sombre minor blues I Left My Baby has which has one final statement from Tate and encouraged by Fats Waller who became his early trumpeter Buck Clayton and tenor-saxophonist could have been made up on the spot, gets this but they were restricted by the three-minute time some memorable singing from Rushing and Edison. mentor as a stride pianist and one who Lester Young. Talent scout/producer John set off to a rollicking start. Buddy Tate and limit of the usual 78 record. Miss Thing has the superb backup work from Young. The jumping Rock-A-Bye Basie has nineteen of the very persuaded him to also play organ. Basie started Hammond heard the band broadcasting from Harry “Sweets” Edison have swinging solos and orchestra stretching out a bit as this original Riff Interlude is a much more joyous type of best Count Basie recordings from a fifteen- his career working locally in New Jersey and New the Reno Club on radio station W9XBY one there are brief spots for altoist Earl Warren and based on the chord changes of “Honeysuckle blues, featuring Tate, Edison, Young and Basie. month period. Still just 36 at the time of Super York, including with the bands of June Clark and night in 1936, flew immediately to Kansas City the Basie rhythm section. Rose” was originally issued on two sides of a 78. Helen Humes returns for Between The Devil Chief, Count Basie had 43 more years of Elmer Snowden. By 1925 he was on the road, and persuaded Basie to take his band east. Most swing bands that employed a male Young, Clayton, Tate, Wells and Earl Warren And The Deep Blue Sea, sounding a little like musical accomplishments ahead of him. working with travelling revues including spending Basie added a few new members so his ensemble singer used the vocalist for romantic ballads and make short statements but the emphasis is on Mildred Bailey in her phrasing. That number two years touring with the Gonzelle White Show. would be considered a full-fledged orchestra and sentimental pop tunes.