Customer Reviews

The Greatest! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards

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Williams brings all the great standards to life, belting them out like nobody else can. I've had this album for 20 years and I've probably played it as much as anything I've ever played. You won't be disappointed.

I first bought the reel-to-reel version of this album in 1963. It is now 43 years since, and finally, found a copy of it on cd. Without a doubt, the quintessential combination of Joe Williams' voice and Count Basie's band are beyond comparison. "Standards" sung and played the way they should have been. No "gimmicks," etc. Just plain, honest and musically incomparable renditions of these songs. It was a sad day for me, when it was announced that, Williams and Basie would no longer appear and record together again. Even sadder is the loss of both of these "GIANTS" within the Jazz and music world. I miss both of them beyond comprehension. This is a MUST recording to include in your musical library.

I have been a Basie and Joe Williams fan since I first heard them live in 1958. A couple of these tracks were on an LP that I bought later that year, for roughly half of my week's army pay, but it was worth it.

It would be difficult to imagine a track by either of them that
I would't like, and it doesn't happen here. Anyone who wants to learn how to phrase a song, whether as a singer or instumentalist buy this and listen.

Joe Williams and Count Basie were one of the best vocalist/big band combinations ever. There is something about Williams's smooth baritone and the bright sound of the postwar Basie band that sends the music straight to the brain's pleasure center. This album has each artist at his best. Like many of the reviewers here, I've been listening to this recording since I picked it up on vinyl--in my case, over twenty-five years ago. The album starts out with a bang with "Thou Swell," and never lets up. My favorite: "Our Love Is Here To Stay," which may be one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.

Since this is an album of vocal standards, after all, it's probably more of a Joe Williams record than a Count Basie one, but the band is a real presence on all the songs, and this disc belongs in any Basie fan's collection.

Pra quem gosta de standards de jazz ( canções americanas) esse disco é uma preciosidade. Além da orquestra de Basie, para surpresa de ninguém, swingar como nunca, Joe Williams, que eu erradamente pensava só cantar blues, é um intérprete muito especial. O repertório foi muito bem escolhido e só tem pérolas mas eu destacaria três faixas especialmente empolgantes: Thou Swell e My Baby Just Cares for Me e I'm Beggining to See The Light. Foi o melhor disco que eu comprei nos últimos meses. Nota 1000.

This is classic Basie and Williams. If you love either performer you have to have it. These standards swing like they rarely have before or since. Buy it!