Customer Reviews

Kansas City Shout

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

 

 

I have never writen a review before but this is one of my favorite album's of all time and definetly my favorite Count Basie album. First, I am such a huge Count Basie fan that I named my dog Basie. I love jazz and my favorite musicians, along with Basie are Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley.

What I like about this album is that it gets down and dirty with the Blues, and really evokes emotion. Williams and Turner are great and they sang in a way you would expect them to sing in a club. Not the over produced, main stream pronunciation you may find on other albums. Also the Basie Band sounds great - very tight with a range of songs from slow to fast blues. My favorite parts of the album are the solo's. Sometimes it seems saxaphone soloist are paid by the note, but here you have well constructed solo's that reach a electic crescendo. The recoriding quality is outstanding.

Oh, yes, this is so beautiful!
If I were being objective I might have sided with the reviewer who complained on the arrangement and choice of big band and/vs small groups,
but I enjoy so much listening to Joe Turner and Eddie Vinson singing, backed up by various sized Basie ensembles...
AND there are very nice small group Basie style tracks... Whether it's Cherry Red or Just a Dream on My Mind, Everyday I Have the Blues or Stormy Monday, this is great blues and great jazz...
There are some VEEEERY nice instrumental solos and obligatos,
it's only a pity the players are not listed in the sparse liner notes (well, Basie is on the piano, naturally, while Eddie Vinson kicks a** on alto sax!

When are they going to release a box set of all of Basie's recordings for the Pablo label? There's a huge wealth of material and a wide variety of joyful surprises to be found in this final stage of the Count's career, from sublime big band recordings like 'Told You So' and 'Fancy Pants' down to any number of wondrous small group recordings that put Basie in trio, quartet or slightly larger configurations. Albums like the quartet record with Zoot Sims, or this one, are among the greatest in the Basie catalog, from any period of his career. This particular album is a note-perfect jazzification (or, should I say, Basie-fication?) of some otherwise un-Basie-like downhome blues, with funny and heartfelt vocal turns by Big Joe Turner and Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson. (The tenor of the proceedings most definitely recalls Vinson's 1940s-50s work in this style.) There are also some lovely instrumental pieces featuring Basie alone with his rhythm section, and, while Basie's piano-playing became more and more minimalist in his later years, but you won't hear any of that parsimony on this date. The man is clearly inspired. All of the Pablo small group recordings are like these little polished jewels waiting to be discovered, and 'Kansas City Shout' is one of the brightest.

My purpose in buying this particular album was to be able to hear the Freddie Green style of rhythm guitar playing. Since this is one of the later albums recorded by Count Basie, the recording of Freddies unamplified guitar came through quite clearly. Vocals by Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Joe Turner make this one of the better blues albums available.

Cleanhead Vinson and Big Joe Turner backed by Basies band and a few instrumentals too. It's great to hear Vinson and Turner backed by Basie but they really could have used the big band a bit more and given the album a little more energy. That's why I gave it only 3 stars. Still worth owning though if you like big band blues.Well recorded.