Product Description:
Personnel: Count Basie (piano); Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Zoot Sims (tenor saxophone); Harry Edison (trumpet); J.J. Johnson (trombone); Irving Ashby (guitar); Ray Brown (bass); Louis Bellson (drums).
Recorded on December 10, 1973. Includes original liner notes by Benny Green.
Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (1987, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).
Personnel: Count Basie (piano); Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Zoot Sims (tenor saxophone); Harry Edison (trumpet); J.J. Johnson (trombone); Irving Ashby (guitar); Ray Brown (bass); Louis Bellson (drums).
Recorded on December 10, 1973.
Digitally remastered by Joe Tarantino (1987, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).
This 1973 recording, the first of two Count Basie albums for the Fantasy label highlighting impromptu jam sessions, is something of a musical party. Heard here with longtime pals Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and others, the Count performs a set of bluesy originals. Basie and company alight in a variety of musical dialogs-joyous and heartrending, playful and stalwart. As one might expect, each player rises to the occasion. And then some.
There can be little doubt that Basie's marvelous sensitivity as an accompanist catalyzes the fine soloing on this album. "One-Nighter" hints at least twice at how invigorating it can be to play with Basie. The first instance occurs when tenor-man Zoot Sims takes over from the organ, exacting a phrase of perfect, rounded beauty. A second occurs when Edison spreads a single recurring melodic figure across a full chorus, while Basie's organ wheezes unobtrusively in the background. A soulful and foot-stomping album, BASIE JAM accurately represents the late swing icon in his mature years.
This 1973 recording, the first of two Count Basie albums for the Fantasy label highlighting impromptu jam sessions, is something of a musical party. Heard here with longtime pals Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Harry "Sweets" Edison, and others, the Count performs a set of bluesy originals. Basie and company alight in a variety of musical dialogs-joyous and heartrending, playful and stalwart. As one might expect, each player rises to the occasion. And then some.
There can be little doubt that Basie's marvelous sensitivity as an accompanist catalyzes the fine soloing on this album. "One-Nighter" hints at least twice at how invigorating it can be to play with Basie. The first instance occurs when tenor-man Zoot Sims takes over from the organ, exacting a phrase of perfect, rounded beauty. A second occurs when Edison spreads a single recurring melodic figure across a full chorus, while Basie's organ wheezes unobtrusively in the background. A soulful and foot-stomping album, BASIE JAM accurately represents the late swing icon in his mature years.
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