Count basie orchestra : where to start ?

with the death of the great actor jerry lewis, i discovered this video : watch . i love this music, but don't know much about count basie and his orchestra. what to buy on CD with a good sound (not brickwalled ) ? compilation ? full albums ? thanks for your help.

 

Atomic Basie. Magnificently Essential.

 

I agree wholly with this! Then, the Basie/Sinatra release(s) are very special...my favourite Franks.

Then, most compilations are good; The Ken Burns Jazz one is actually very good.

 

Get these two, burn them onto one 80 minute CD, adding April in Paris, crank things up and hold on! SERIOUSLY!!!

 

Can anyone recommend a good Count Basie album for showcasing Sonny Payne's drumming? For reference, I've pasted the list of albums he features on from Wikipedia below...

• Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (Verve, 1956)

• April in Paris (Verve, 1956)

• The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards with Joe Williams

• Metronome All-Stars 1956 (Clef, 1956) with Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams

• Hall of Fame (Verve, 1956 [1959])

• Basie in London (Verve, 1956)

• One O'Clock Jump (Verve, 1957) with Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald

• Count Basie at Newport (Verve, 1957)

• The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette, 1957) aka Basie and E=MC2

• Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette, 1958)

• Sing Along with Basie (Roulette, 1958) - with Joe Williams and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

• Basie One More Time (Roulette, 1959)

• Breakfast Dance and Barbecue (Roulette, 1959)

• Everyday I Have the Blues (Roulette, 1959) - with Joe Williams

• Dance Along with Basie (Roulette, 1959)

• Not Now, I'll Tell You When (Roulette, 1960)

• The Count Basie Story (Roulette, 1960)

• Kansas City Suite (Roulette, 1960)

• The Legend (Roulette, 1961)

• Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan (Roulette, 1961)

• Back with Basie (Roulette, 1962)

• Sinatra–Basie: An Historic Musical First (Reprise, 1962)

• On My Way & Shoutin' Again! (Verve, 1962)

• This Time by Basie! (Reprise, 1963)

• More Hits of the 50's and 60's (Verve, 1963)

• It Might As Well Be Swing (Reprise, 1964) with Frank Sinatra

• Pop Goes the Basie (Reprise, 1965)

• Basie Meets Bond (United Artists, 1966)

• Live at the Sands (Before Frank) (Reprise, 1966 [1998])

• Sinatra at the Sands (Reprise, 1966) with Frank Sinatra

• Basie's Beatle Bag (Verve, 1966)

 

Just listened to Live in Japan ‘78 (Pablo) and was blown away! What a band even towards the end.

 

Trying to find a singular starting point with The Count can be difficult...for his early work, I would recommend either The Complete Decca Recordings 3 CD set, or the Columbia 3 CDs of The Essential Count Basie...a unique treat is his re-recordings of that material with his "New Testament" band on Roulette's The Count Basie Story 2 CD set...the Roulette Best of Count Basie rounds up a solid single disc of his prime 50's material...and there's a 4 disc Pablo set called The Golden Years that features some tighter, smaller groups and collabs with various singers and artists...

Then there's the Mosaic sets of Roulette Studio, Roulette Live, and Complete Clef/Verve 50s material...It's really hard to find a bad place to start...just dig in and explore...Basie had such a long and fruitful career, that may have a few flat spots here and there, but is overall a rich catalog of swing and big band jazz...Enjoy!

 

Happy Birthday to The Count!