At Birdland [Remaster]

Performer: Count Basie
Producer: Teddy Reig; Michael Cuscuna (Reissue)
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Count Basie (piano); Jon Hendricks (vocals); Freddie Green (guitar); Frank Wess, Marshall Royal (alto saxophone); Frank Foster, Budd Johnson (tenor saxophone); Charlie Fowlkes (baritone saxophone); Lennie Johnson, Snooky Young, Thad Jones, Sonny Cohn (trumpet); Henry Coker, Quentin Jackson, Benny Powell (trombone); Eddie Jones (bass guitar); Sonny Payne (drums). Audio Remasterer: Malcolm Addey. When this album was recorded (live) in 1961, the Count Basie orchestra was experiencing a massive resurgence. No longer known only as "one of the stars of the Swing Era," Basie's big band got a major shot in the arm (in the late '50s & early '60s) via the dynamic compositions and arrangements of Neal Hefti, Frank Foster (also tenor saxophonist), and Ernie Wilkins. (A few years hence, Basie and band would go on to accompany Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, both live and in the studio.) Basie's outfit of the day featured such talents as Thad Jones, Frank Wess, and guest singer Jon Hendricks. Which isn't to say the Count wouldn't revisit his own past triumphs--such as "One O'Clock Jump"--but BIRDLAND is primarily the "new" Basie outfit in all its roaring, hard-swinging glory.

Simply put, Count Basie led the most swinging of the classic big bands. His youthful education in playing stride piano in New York was meshed with a deep immersion in the hard-swinging Kansas City jazz scene of the early 1930s. As Basie moved from sideman to bandleader, his tight-knit ensemble eventually came to rival Duke Ellington's group. The Basie orchestra's perfectly interlocking rhythm section provided a springboard for a succession of jazz giants--most notably tenor man Lester Young--to launch their solo excursions. Basie's big-band vision was so strong that his group continued for decades after his passing.

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