Damned correct. That was the amazing thing about Count Basie... blues, quiet, EXPLOSIONS, quiet... and always "relaxed tempo" and all that swing. Genius.
Steve, have you come across this track of Clifford Brown’s? ruclips.net/video/4avT3N0A6Vw/видео.html It has some of the same “smoothness, quiet, EXPLOSION, quiet” you alluded to w/ Basie. Probably no accident! The first two minutes are one of the longest, subtlest crescendos I’ve ever heard, and the payoff “explosion” of the horns is wild...
I was blessed to see Frank Wess so many times at the old West End on Bway, and at the 92nd Street Y... the man was a sugar bear, the sweetest and kindest guy who ever lived... God and Darwin bless you, Frank. We MISS YOU.
@@johnmarass3021 1976 to 1980 at the West End and 2006-8 at the Y, playing with Dick Hyman, Eddie Locke, and lots of guest players. My mom Carole Langer made the doc "Joe Albany: A Jazz Life" in 1979-81, it's available on Vimeo. Joe plays live at the West End in the doc.
Was so lucky to study flute with him in his older years. Love his swinging, crafted lines with a nice bright sound that rings out with the big band sound behind it.
I have been head over heels almost my whole life for Hefti’s charts for Basie, and for Quincy Jones’s. I know there were other great composers/arrangers for the band but those two are real peaks, in my book.
Such a beautiful number and arranged so marvelously. I heard it as part of the sound track for Tv show “In Plain Sight”. Looked it up on RUclips and listened to it. Count Basie Orchestra was the bomb. Absolutely timeless!
The orchestra plays like a single (brilliant) musician. Good luck finding a band - in almost any genre of music - that can swing this hard while playing so quietly, and at such a moderate tempo. Bill Basie, Maestro!
It makes sense. So much of the groove on this tune is so transparent & light (brushes on the drums!), compared to nearly every other big band piece at that time, so it makes sense that single notes from Basie can be heard, the flute is a suitable solo instrument, & yes... that the bass can be heard. Having said all of that, I can't begin to tell you why the person syncing the audio to the video in this clip placed the audio a full 3 beats ahead of the image. I mean, c'mon!! Can't we have a little respect for the artistry of this performance by trying just a little harder? I'd like to watch & enjoy the beautiful musical moment, but I just have to look away! LOL
Ed Jones, Sonny Payne & Freddie Greene ... the best edition o/t Basie rhythm section ... period! One of my most favourite Basie heads .. that, Easing It & Jessica’s Day👍👍👍
I know the past is gone... and time marches on... but I can't help it: I'm in love with the world that had Bill Basie and his band in it, and I feel lucky to have lived in that world, at least for the last part of it.
It feels so weird to be one of the few of my generation to know anything about such a wonderful period in music history. Almost feels like I'm part of a lost generation that never existed. (none of that is to rag on my peers, I just wish I knew more people I could relate these wonderful experiences to.)
Ben Tindall my exact feelings. I hate being that guy that's like "I was born in the wrong generation" but I just wish I had more people I could enjoy this stuff with.
If it makes you feel any better, there are school music programs that have youth jazz bands and Hefti numbers are still favorites. Also, professional big bands still survive. I’m a big fan of WDR in Köln, Germany who have a large presence on YT.
So much fun to hear the irrepressible Count Basie - I guess he just couldn't help himself! - add three choruses of blues at the top. ...and then the saxes stand tall for the famous soli, and you can hear the warmth of their sound reverberate in the room.
The second band coming together here. Thanks for posting the sidemen. Basie and Kenton. That's all you need. Maybe Gil Evans. Now I wanna hear "Corner Pocket".
Sonny Payne, Eddie Jones and Freddie Greene. Now THERE'S a rhythm section. Basie had many drummers come and go through the years and a certain monster soloist by the name of Rufus Speedy Jones but, in my opinion, the Basie band sounded best when Sonny was playing.
It reminds me of a story about Basie in London, making a live album. The British promoters made the band perform a concert without music stands. Kind of a stupid thing to do to a band that was called the greatest studio band on the road. Maybe the same sort of thing happened here in Milan.
Basie looks so calm, so in control. Amazing! And that flute. Nothing like the high school flute I used to torture. Plus the flute would never be his first instrument. This is probably his third or fourth instrument after the saxes and yet he can play that well!!
It still astounds me, the skill it takes to synchronize everyone's playing with each other. I remember discussing this with self described so-called expert musicians, saying that they didn't like working in a band, because it was 'too hard', playing the way someone else wanted them to play; they'd rather just 'wing it' and play however they felt like whenever they played. No self discipline. No discipline at all. They didn't want to 'waste all that time' rehearsing just so they could play a piece the way someone else had arranged for them to play it. And that's what we have today; plenty of artists who just want to 'wing it' all the time. No serious musicians.
Camerman! You call that camerman? the whole focus of the tune is drums, esp during the 2 bar solo/fills, but instead camerman focused on anything else but Sonny. Hope he was fired.
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Beloved Mr Wess 😊
Frank Wess and his burnin' flute solos. THE definition of cool.
I was there in Oslo,Norway 1958 seeing/hearing the very same Count Basie's Band! It was real swinging and swinging Folks !👍🎶
To me, this was Basie's best band.
What other band could swing this hard, so quietly and at such a relaxed tempo?!!! The textures!!!
Damned correct. That was the amazing thing about Count Basie... blues, quiet, EXPLOSIONS, quiet... and always "relaxed tempo" and all that swing. Genius.
Beautifully put, Steve!
Steve, have you come across this track of Clifford Brown’s? ruclips.net/video/4avT3N0A6Vw/видео.html
It has some of the same “smoothness, quiet, EXPLOSION, quiet” you alluded to w/ Basie. Probably no accident! The first two minutes are one of the longest, subtlest crescendos I’ve ever heard, and the payoff “explosion” of the horns is wild...
Basie is the epitome of "cool" at the intro. What a great band!!
I was blessed to see Frank Wess so many times at the old West End on Bway, and at the 92nd Street Y... the man was a sugar bear, the sweetest and kindest guy who ever lived... God and Darwin bless you, Frank. We MISS YOU.
113th and Broadway ? what year was that?
@@johnmarass3021 1976 to 1980 at the West End and 2006-8 at the Y, playing with Dick Hyman, Eddie Locke, and lots of guest players. My mom Carole Langer made the doc "Joe Albany: A Jazz Life" in 1979-81, it's available on Vimeo. Joe plays live at the West End in the doc.
About halfway through Frank's solo I started hearing "Thou Swell," and couldn't get it out of my head;>)
Was so lucky to study flute with him in his older years. Love his swinging, crafted lines with a nice bright sound that rings out with the big band sound behind it.
❤🔥🥰
R.I.P. Frank and thank you for the music you gave us, not least the wonderful flute solos!
I have been head over heels almost my whole life for Hefti’s charts for Basie, and for Quincy Jones’s. I know there were other great composers/arrangers for the band but those two are real peaks, in my book.
His Girl Talk arrangement is also great.
"In a Hefti Bag" was the coolest album title ever.
It’s 2021 and this is still…cute. Love it!
Such a beautiful number and arranged so marvelously. I heard it as part of the sound track for Tv show “In Plain Sight”. Looked it up on RUclips and listened to it. Count Basie Orchestra was the bomb. Absolutely timeless!
Thanks so much for posting this. Wonderful.
The orchestra plays like a single (brilliant) musician. Good luck finding a band - in almost any genre of music - that can swing this hard while playing so quietly, and at such a moderate tempo. Bill Basie, Maestro!
Does anyone else find it amazing how clearly you can hear the bass?
Yes, very rare at that time.........
It makes sense. So much of the groove on this tune is so transparent & light (brushes on the drums!), compared to nearly every other big band piece at that time, so it makes sense that single notes from Basie can be heard, the flute is a suitable solo instrument, & yes... that the bass can be heard. Having said all of that, I can't begin to tell you why the person syncing the audio to the video in this clip placed the audio a full 3 beats ahead of the image. I mean, c'mon!! Can't we have a little respect for the artistry of this performance by trying just a little harder? I'd like to watch & enjoy the beautiful musical moment, but I just have to look away! LOL
@@foreststewart1968I mean it does give it a vintage tech feel … maybe it was a glitch in the original video 🤷♀️
Ed Jones, Sonny Payne & Freddie Greene ... the best edition o/t Basie rhythm section ... period! One of my most favourite Basie heads .. that, Easing It & Jessica’s Day👍👍👍
many thanks for this invaluable post. Never hear Basie play this. Very deeply appreciated.
I know the past is gone... and time marches on... but I can't help it: I'm in love with the world that had Bill Basie and his band in it, and I feel lucky to have lived in that world, at least for the last part of it.
my feelings exactly
It feels so weird to be one of the few of my generation to know anything about such a wonderful period in music history. Almost feels like I'm part of a lost generation that never existed. (none of that is to rag on my peers, I just wish I knew more people I could relate these wonderful experiences to.)
Ben Tindall my exact feelings. I hate being that guy that's like "I was born in the wrong generation" but I just wish I had more people I could enjoy this stuff with.
If it makes you feel any better, there are school music programs that have youth jazz bands and Hefti numbers are still favorites.
Also, professional big bands still survive. I’m a big fan of WDR in Köln, Germany who have a large presence on YT.
Meraviglioso brano di Count Basie.
....and with the incomparable Sonny Payne on drums. :)
So much fun to hear the irrepressible Count Basie - I guess he just couldn't help himself! - add three choruses of blues at the top.
...and then the saxes stand tall for the famous soli, and you can hear the warmth of their sound reverberate in the room.
Sonny Payne,excelent drummer and entertainer,♫♪♫Beautiful tune.!Count Basis Band...Dynamite,Yeah.!!!
FANTASTIC & BRILLIANT
WELL DONE
I love this tunes so much.... They are marvellous!!! Sometimes i think i was born in the wrong century!
WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From a mad keen 73yo Aussie fan.
The second band coming together here. Thanks for posting the sidemen.
Basie and Kenton. That's all you need. Maybe Gil Evans.
Now I wanna hear "Corner Pocket".
Such talent!!!!!
brilliant Thanks for posting this
Sonny Pain great man with the brushes.
Magic. Hefti, Basie , Wess... Basies band.
Sonny Payne, Eddie Jones and Freddie Greene. Now THERE'S a rhythm section. Basie had many drummers come and go through the years and a certain monster soloist by the name of Rufus Speedy Jones but, in my opinion, the Basie band sounded best when Sonny was playing.
Jim Baker щ
What about butch miles? He was in Kansas City the other day and he gave a clinic
Don't forget Gus Johnson (my favorite)
It reminds me of a story about Basie in London, making a live album. The British promoters made the band perform a concert without music stands. Kind of a stupid thing to do to a band that was called the greatest studio band on the road. Maybe the same sort of thing happened here in Milan.
😍😍😍
All this and Basie too !!
Best big band
Nice to catch up on the band
Basie looks so calm, so in control. Amazing! And that flute. Nothing like the high school flute I used to torture. Plus the flute would never be his first instrument. This is probably his third or fourth instrument after the saxes and yet he can play that well!!
completely memorized!
Frank Wess!!!!!
Good lord Basie's brass section has such an intimate feel. Dare I say, i prefer his brass section over Duke's.
It still astounds me, the skill it takes to synchronize everyone's playing with each other. I remember discussing this with self described so-called expert musicians, saying that they didn't like working in a band, because it was 'too hard', playing the way someone else wanted them to play; they'd rather just 'wing it' and play however they felt like whenever they played. No self discipline. No discipline at all. They didn't want to 'waste all that time' rehearsing just so they could play a piece the way someone else had arranged for them to play it. And that's what we have today; plenty of artists who just want to 'wing it' all the time. No serious musicians.
Classic
Sonny Payne and Papa Jo Jones must have been the coolest drummers ever
Count Basie Orchestra:
Thad Jones, Snookey Young, Sonny Cohn, Joe Newman, trumpets.
Billy Mitchell, Frank Wess, Marshall Royal,Frank Foster,Charlie Fowlkes,saxophones.
Benny Powell, Al Grey, Henry Coker, trombones
Count Basie,piano
Freddie Green,guitar
Eddie Jones,bass
Sonny Payne,drums.
Bass Drum kicks off the hook…Supposedly Elvin Jones loved the drummers feel?
classic
RIP Frank Wess
WOWin my humble oppinion abasie classic and Frank Wess brillisnt
Probably the estimated big band ever.
Frank Foster na flauta.
♥♥♥
Fast tempo on cute!
最高
Reginald VelJohnson on piano?
🌸🌱💙😀
Met him att JFK while working. Gave me a tip.
get a cheap Denon receiver amp on Craigslist and a pair of Klipsch horns like rf3s, pull a phat tube, close your eyes and you'll swear you're there!
Damn fools now should listen here good!, Frank swings and phrases and tells that story. Dig?
Why would anyone thumb this down???
Cause they're stupid degenerates.
Because they're evil and will vote for Trump....that's why...lol...
E Babs stop
Excuse me, but this Trump supporter digs Basie.
Trump's supporters...
Hi.
I couldn't have said it better .
The drum figures played by Sonny Payne were not picked up well by the soundman.
.
Camerman! You call that camerman? the whole focus of the tune is drums, esp during the 2 bar solo/fills, but instead camerman focused on anything else but Sonny. Hope he was fired.
.