Customer Reviews

Basie & Beyond

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great alblum for swing big band lovers. Quincy has returned to the jazz fold and turned out a great big band alblum. Great songs and performances. Highly reccommended.

I would never normally choose a Quincy alblum due to the fact that he left the jazz fold many years ago, however this tribute to Basie really swings! Great songs and performances. A great choice for any big band fan.

It was a thrill to hear Quincy and a smoking big band for the first time in far too many years...and with Sammy on the premises, this was a great concept, paying collective tribute to the great Count Basie (for whom both once arranged).

I can smell another Grammy for Q next year!!!

I happened to hear a sample of a few tracks on an aiplane while traveling on business the other week and it was enough to make me purchase this CD. Tracks 1,4,12 are worth the price of the entire CD. My personal favorite "the joy of cookin'" is a funky, swinging, masterfully orchestrated piece that will play over and over in your head. The personnel on this CD is amazing, from Bill Watrous on the trombone to Vinnie Colaiuta on the drums keeping it all together. A great CD for any drummer. Reason for 4 stars and not 5.......a few tunes are too slow for my taste, but that's not to say they aren't nice pieces. I recommend to anyone who enjoys the big band sound. It really swings.

You have done it again Quincy and Sammy. This album exemplifies what it means to have a big band. The tracks are kickin' I have read some of the other reviews of this project that were not so supportive. Those individuals are obviously uneducated to the art of jazz. For those individuals, just keep listening and maybe one day you will get it.

I love Count Basie's music, and Quincy Jones is about as accomplished a producer as you'll find in this field. But despite Jones and some great musicians, Basie and Beyond never really gets beyond 'good'. Listen to the old Hefti/Basie collaborations, or especially the 'Old Testament' band of the 1940s and you will hear edgier, spontaneous music. As much as I WANT to like this album, it just seems overproduced. Shades of smooth jazz sapping the energy of music that used to be exciting.

There are some superb tracks here -- Ya Gotta Try Harder, Belly Roll (with Ernie Watts), Joy of Cookin', Hard Sock Dance and Out of the Night are winners to some degree, but the rest of the album sounds like a forced attempt at retro-jazz. Compared to most music being recorded this is a refreshing change, but there is a lingering commercialism behind it all that colors the music. Count Basie? A legend, but I expected something different -- honest, exciting -- from an album that is presumably a tribute.

Having played two of the tracks on the CD in the past (namely Lisette and Ya gotta try...harder), I found this CD extremely useful and fun to listen to. Nestico and Jones aren't trying to BE Count Basie, but they have their own style. This is noticeable in every track. Perhaps some people were misled by the title of the CD, while this is easy to do, these are two composers who are obviously not Basie.

having heard this Album&Digging Quincy Jones&Count Basie Work respectively I was expecting a bit more Steam.Count Basie could Swing this Set barely cooks.Arrangements are fairly safe&Middle of the road to me.there are some good Moments but overall slightly better than what you get out nowadays in Jazz but nothing on Par off Q in Prime time.the Music&Vibe here won't make you forget Q&Basie with Sinatra at the Sands.

I still can't work up enthusiasm. Difficult to review! I have to quote a review by William Ruhman of All Music Group since it is closest to defining what I feel. Mr. Ruhlman states that the cd is "more beyond than Basie" which is true since only four of the selections can I even identify as being recorded by the Count. One other comment by him also struck a chord (no pun intended!) that much of the music seemed to be scored for films......more "jazzy" than "jazz". My lack of enjoyment was possibly due to a feeling that maybe it covered too much ground............let's face it, there's a huge disparity in the styles of Basie and what Quincy recorded back in the sixties and seventies. Even some of Sammy's compositions presented here lack something that I've come to associate with his music.

That said, I have a huge respect for both men and what they have accomplished in their lives. I have Q's original albums (transferred to disk) of "Ndeda" (Mercury) and "The Quintessintial Charts" (ABC Impulse) which feature quite a few of his charts which appear here. All of that music has been reissued under various mixtures which were not my preference. Q and I parted ways musically when he started doing some of the crossover stuff in 1974(?) so I probably built this cd up too much in my mind.

Obviously nothing was spared in getting the best musicians available. It's a good cd.....just not a great one for me.

Earlier this year I wrote what was not a fair review of this album--I apologize for that. After subsequent listening, this disc has quite a few high points and should end up being in collections of those who love big band. I guess I must have been expecting different stuff from this bunch and experienced a let down upon my first couple listenings. An apology goes to Vinnie Colaiuta too for he is truly one of the best drummers playing today. I am used to hearing him in very different musical settings.