Search - Count Basie :: Blues Alley

Excellent performance of 1968 band

Peter Feng | Wilmington, DE United States | 03/27/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a particularly inspired outting for the 1968 band. This recording probably comes from their July 1968 European tour, but the CD doesn't give a specific date (and the CD does not correspond with any of the performances documented in Sheridan's COUNT BASIE: A BIO-DISCOGRAPHY). Compared with the Juan-les-Pins performance of July 23, the repertoire is similar but the performances here are better -- the rhythm section in particular is very spontaneous -- and the recording quality is above average (and stereo).Many tracks are misidentified: (2) is Blues for Ilean, (5) is Boone's Blues, (6) is Whirly-Bird, and (10) is a blues in C for the rhythm section -- 4 minutes of Basie's sparkling piano, in a playful mood.The sound quality isn't perfect (some distortion and shifting of stereo image), and there are many concert recordings -- but this is one of the best of the late 1960s."