Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings

Joe Williams, Count Basie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000046RR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,281 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I Love The Blues Because It's So Natural. It's Life, Man.", September 17, 2000

By 

Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (Audio CD)

That quote, from Joe Williams as part of the liner notes for this remarkable re-issue, emphasizes that blues is not so much a rudimentary style as an approach to music and, especially, lyrics. It's a lesson Basie, Williams, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Bobby Bland, and a generation's country, R&B, and blues performers taught the rock and roll revolution that so quickly followed and incorporated them.

"Basie Swings - Williams Sings" joins jazz vocal panache to Basie's rollicking big-band punch. Williams sings circles around the melodies of "The Comeback," (with its stick-and-move sax punctuation) Joe Turner's "Roll 'Em Pete," (with Williams trilling "Ohwellohwellohwell..." as if he discovered a new instrument) and the huge R&B hit, "Everyday I Have The Blues" (later a B.B. King theme song). Credit Frank Foster's inventive, galloping arrangements (brought to the fore by Phil Schaap's excellent remastering) for bringing fire and funk to what otherwise would've been a swing-era holdover. On the ballad side, "In the Evening" brings flutes and clarinets into a sleepy blues tune that recalls Bland's later, "If You Could Read My Mind."

This LP and its long-running success deservedly expanded and extended Basie and Williams' careers, stretching across pop culture from Basie's three LPs with Frank Sinatra (and a band still performing Foster's arrangements today) to Williams' casting on the "Cosby Show." Most importantly, "Basie Swings - Williams Sings" redefined big band music for the post-rock and roll era, making it essential to jazz, blues, and early rock and roll fans all.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dying for a re-issue!, February 5, 2004

By 

Sam Donnelley (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (Audio CD)

One of the all time greatest albums. Nearly every track fills you with excitement and joy. But...this is one album that is begging for a high-resolution re-mastering and re-issue. The recording is scratchy, lacks depth, and the bass is nearly non-existent.

Verve Records - Please Please PLEASE! Re-issue this classic album as a Master Edition! This should be one of the 10 most essential jazz CDs in every person's library, but it won't happen without a CD that meets the modern auditory expectation for jazz classics of this era.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great stuff, June 2, 2000

By 

Daniel A. Brodnitz (Alameda, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings (Audio CD)

An excellent album. Great variety and the Basie band really smokes on this one. One of the other reviews talked about the Sinatra/Basie lps, and they're unquestionably excellent--especially the first one. But this title has an explosive quality all its own. Well worth your time.