Search - Count Basie :: Basie Jam 2

Jam #2: The good sounds continue

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 10/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It took a couple of years after the first Basie Jam album was cut, but finally a second Jam session took place in May '76 with a different personnel except for Lockjaw Davis, Louis Bellson, and Basie himself. The results are just as impressive as the first go-round, if not more so. Four tunes were recorded, three of them blues and the fourth the Herschel Evans staple DOGGIN' AROUND. That selection is an up-tempo burner, with slashing Lockjaw on tenor, great Joe Pass on guitar, and a fiery Clark Terry on trumpet (though it sounds more like flugelhorn). Terry is very impressive throughout this date: he's also cookin' on MAMA DON'T WEAR NO DRAWERS, a solo that compares nicely with Benny Carter's refined, cool elegance on alto right after. KANSAS CITY LINE is the simplest of blues lines, though it is augmented handsomely by an alternate theme played by the ensemble behind individual solos - which sounds definitely like the work of Carter's arranging skills. The same thing occurs on JJJJUMP. All in all, this is a wonderful CD, intriguing from first note to last."