Bands Music

The Basie band in 37 still had some of the original excitement from their house gig at the Reno Club of Kansas City. Still played a lotta head tunes, Moten Swing, Lady Be Good, etc. Pres was hot, hot, hot! One eagerly anticipates his next solo and is never disappointed. Hershel Evans plays fine, big tenor, and even gives Pres a run for his $$ on Swingin at the Daisy Chain and King Porter Stomp. Buck Clayton was already telling stories with his fine cup mute tpt. Claude Williams had great solo ideas on fiddle, but alas his pitch stinks! Tune up! Damn! Stuff Smith would have been a treat...

And the rhythm section....Basie plays a lot of piano, Walter Page lays it down on bass, Freddie Green locks, and Jo Jones, Yeah Man! Check out all the great textures he puts on Swingin' at the Daisy Chain, my fav of all. He even plays temple blocks.

Swingin' at the Daisy Chain is the ultimate distillation of Basie
style. Great Basie piano, a poetic Pres melody, a rompin' Hershel solo, typically brilliantly understated and effective narrative from Buck Clayton, trumpet, and Jo Jones and Walter Page just kick ass. The horns riff, the whole band delivers punch without sounding a bit heavy or ponderous.

It's fun to imagine tuning in to hear the band on the radio, especially with the introduction from the Savoy Ballroom. Too bad the announcer was so square. Mixing up songtitles and getting Billie Holiday's name wrong...oh well... the good vibe from the Savoy dancers is palpable, and the band responds with great grooves & dance tempos.

Lester Young fans need these recordings. Check out Tattersfield Stomp and I Got Rhythm. The intros and outros of Moten Swing
are all solid gold, each different and at the compositional level. Enjoy!

This CD is entirely of live radio cuts from 1937. The tunes kill. Basie is on fire, especially after the addition of Fredie Green on Rhythm Guitar. The record contains amazing recordings of some basie jams, but is most notable for one of the rare recording of "Shout and Feel It." Other stand outs include "Swnig Brother Swing" with Billie Holiday singing. The problems are in the numerous fading in and out of songs, the reoccuring snipet of the theme "Moten Swing" and the passable sound quality. I find it somewhat difficult to play these tunes while DJing, because that lost fidelity is more appearent though a sound system in a noisy club. Still, a must a have for real fans.