Customer Reviews

First Time! The Count Meets...

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In the 60's, the record companies came to a realization that they had better record the Duke with many of the greatest Jazz men around such as Satchmo, The Count and Coltrane, to name but a few. The differences between those later collaborations (after the Count, like the one with Coltrane) is that the producers took away The Duke from his Big Band. The Coltrane album is just the two of them. That's great, but Duke made his claim to fame with his big band, and this album with Count allows two of the greatest big band leaders of all time to go at it. The results are just splendid. What makes this release even more exciting is all the outtakes. You can hear what goes on behind the scenes, then you can marvel at the amazing fact that this recording was made with no rehersals!!!! Yes, buy it and be amazed!

This is one of my favorite records of all-time. Hear all the principal players from each band in a fun, relaxed recording session. And the stereo separation allows you to hear both famous rhythm sections from separate speakers.

This CD reflects two all time great jazz orchestras. Ellington and Basie really know how to cook. The rehearsal tracks of "A Train" and "Battle Royal" are really intresting. Also, the linear notes are very informative. A must have for any Basie or Ellington fan.

Forget the history, the background, the drama, the analysis, this music smokes. It groves, it burns, it makes you want to dance, and it makes you want to listen, it provides heat, light, and electricity too.


The two bands are smoking. This is the hotest straight ahead head arrangement swing either group played in the period. This is what makes the bands which were otherwise overly arranged and precision units by the time this CD was made, smoke. The production values on these tracks must have been quite low: get the two bands in the studio, get a minimum number of tracks going, find some tunes that are blues based with standard progressions, and let the rhythm sections bounce, let the soloists rip.

Rip, rip rip rip away they do, and it takes a long time of listening to figure out who is who what is what, by that time you dont care. You just want the beat to go on, the bands to keep wailing and you don't care whether it is Count Basie and Duke Ellington, or Frosty the Snowman.

I am not much on the New Testament or Ellington in the 1960s but you need this groove!

Duke's orchestra on the right channel. Count's on the left. When the first track kicks off, your ears are washed with crisp, toe-tapping big band JAZZ. The first time I listened to this album, I was amazed. I've listened to it a thousand times since and it still takes my breath away. If you liked this, check out Duke's Far East Suite. It's amazing.

My fellow Big Band Jazz hobbyists have given you extremely accurate and concise information about this CD. All I want to add is, of all the re-issued Big Band CD out there, I am not aware of another one in the market which offers such superior high quality digital hi-fidelity reproduction. Whereas most other reissues have a 'muted' or 'old' sound to it, this one is totally crisp, clean as if the music was recorded in 2004. If anyone of you found any reissued Big Band CD with this high quality sound, please e mail me and let me know. A MUST BUY!!! Please also ensure you buy the lre-issue with 16 tracks instead of the original which has only 8. The 16 tracks offering is so much more rich and fun to listen to compared with the original one.

The collaboration of these 2 giants of their trade shine even on the mix of the CD that has Duke's orchestra playing on the right channel with the Count's on the left..what a great re release with bonus tracks and 36 page illustrated booklet...total pleasure from Basie, now with his idol,Duke, playing as his "guest" on this Ellington release..
We have Basie's bluesy voluptuous sound fusing well with Duke's elegant style on mostly numbers spanning popular band selections from both of these musical giants.
These two great orchestras, weaving amazingly smooth and irreconcilable at times works on standouts from both men.
Jamming together in New York in the summer of 1961
this was billed as a historic one time meeting now laid down for posterity.
Phil Schapp the reissue producer did a great job on adding outtakes, different takes.. under his guidance this becomes one great long CD and one that can turn heads in initiating people to music of greatness from these 2 men and their orchestras that is now overlooked some 50 years later.

Basie Meets Ellington. Anyone who does not understand this significance is clueless so let me clue you in. I bought the LP years ago and jumped at the chance to get it on CD. Ellington: a composer/musician whose abilities match anything accomplished by Bach Bartok or Stravinsky. Basie: His famous punctuated piano solos acted only a lure to a sudden wall of sound that hit with such tsunami power it probably broke many a sound meter in its day. Both men lead big bands of legendary proportion. Basie / Ellington band personal was a who's who of jazz, not just excellent musicians but soloist who laid foundations most great players build on today. The first track on this CD is worth the price alone; signature light melodies accented by slamming walls of ensemble, swinging virtuoso solos, then two drummers square off trading eights in such a way they celebrate the very idea of jazz. The first drummer kicks off with an explosion then taps off in a coil like some great anaconda. Then the second drummer throws in the kitchen sink like a charging bull answered by the anaconda with his own kitchen sink almost a jungle shout. There is another set clever of trade-offs the envy of any drummer leading in the two bands for a huge finish. That is just the first track! The other tracks are just as delightful and then there are the bonus tracks, which are a joy to listen to and a wonderful addition. This is a great celebration of big band jazz. We can only imagine some historic events; Babe Ruth swatting a homerun or being in the same room when Grant and Lee met to end the Civil War but put this CD on and you are there on that great day in 1961 when Basie met with Ellington for the first (and only) time.

The first track, Battle Royal, says it all. Incredible excitement jumps from the grooves as two of the finest musical ensembles ever assembled play together for the first and last time. You can absolutely feel the love and respect from the bands for each other and the music, and boy oh boy the peaks are breath-taking. I tend to crack up in laughter at moments throughout this recording, the intensity is so overwhelming. These are some of the best jazz players the genre has produced, veterans of four decades of swing at this point in 1961, and this one-off meeting never disappoints.

Having each band in one channel makes this surreal on good headphones. Nice production too, solid remaster with the brass register rarely shrill.

Along with Cannonball Adderley's Know What I Mean?, this is one of the sweetest semi-unknown jazz recordings. If you know someone who says jazz doesn't rock, just throw on cut one, crank it loud and proud, and step back with a smile.

Are there any musicians of this calibre still alive? I can't seem to find them...

I don't have the enhanced version of this disc but it still sounds very good to me so I can only imagine what an "enhanced" version would sound like but I can truly say that I enjoyed this disc a great deal. A couple of great bands combining for just one occasion and this was the result. Highly enjoyable and definitely a keeper! If you are a swing fan and don't have this yet in your collection, what are you waiting for? : )