Customer Reviews

At The Savoy Ballroom

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

 

 

I agree with those who rated this album high. It is a live recording that is more than 70 years old... What do you expect? In my opinion we are lucky that these recordings have managed to not only survive, but actually be made available to fans. I personally am not bothered by the sound quality on old Jazz and Blues(might I add this is FAR from being as bad as many), and as a matter of fact think the sound is part of what makes the music so great. It doesn't sound like some clean, new, overproduced Britney Spears album. This is REAL music being played live by REAL musicians that were amazing at what they did. I think fans of either Billie or Basie should give this album a try, especially if you're a diehard lover of either of them.

The concept of audio-fidelity is almost nonexistent in this age. It is sad to think that the idea of true sound fidelity is all but completely misunderstood nowadays. So important is this misconception, that it threatens to ruin any chance that there can be any decent standard in the production of new recordings, as well as to desecrate our heritage of classic recordings. The difficulty lies in the fact that this misconception is rampant not just among listeners, but among professionals in an industry that due to the advent of certain technological "advances", has become increasingly diffuse and confused. So difficult is this problem, that I am at a loss to figure what, if anything, can be done.

One of the main problems is a misunderstanding of the word fidelity, and how this word applies to sound reproduction. What most people mistake as fidelity in sound recording is "apparent clarity". The actual meaning of fidelity in recording is TRUE sound reproduction. That is to say reproduction that is faithful to the music as it was produced and intended by the artist. Clarity is an aspect of fidelity, and an important one, but TRUE CLARITY can only be achieved when other more essential aspects of fidelity have been achieved. A modern recording may have what I have termed as "apparent clarity", that is to say that it is relatively free of extraneous noise and has a certain brightness, and at the same time possess very little true fidelity. On the other hand, a recording may be old and have an amount of hiss and surface noise, and still possess a much higher grade of fidelity than the aforementioned contemporary recording. The understanding of this principle is so important to any appreciation of recorded music in general, and classic Jazz in particular. That isn't to say that one must formally view it this way. Indeed, it is only that when one listens to music and becomes aware of it's value and emotional impact, that one naturally develops a discerning ear. So much more remains to be said upon this subject, but I will leave that to another time.

We are very lucky that posterity has seen fit to give us so much broadcast material by the great Count Basie Orchestra of the late 1930's. Because of the band's association with John Hammond, they were given regular opportunity to broadcast and this was all important to there swift rise to national prominence. It is fortunate that some of these broadcasts were recorded. We have for example, the material that comes from the Chatterbox at the Wm. Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh from very early 1937. There is also a studio air-check from later in that same year. There is the Meadowbrook broadcast out of Cedar Grove NJ from July 1938, and much material from various air-checks taken from Basie's two summer engagements at the Famous Door in New York City from 1938 & '39. There are broadcasts from the Panther Room at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago from the fall of 1939. Then there is this July 1937 Broadcast out of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. It seems to me that the importance of this material within the wider scope of the Basie legacy has remained relatively little known, and critically underemphasized.


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This is it. This the one real recording of Billie Holiday and the Basie Band live. Yes there are a couple of cuts elsewhere, but they are very tightly cut, so you don't have the feeling of a real live performance.

This is special. This is at the citadel of swing,THE HOME OF HAPPY FEET, Harlem's Savoy the capital and capitol of SWING.

This is the Basie band with Jimmie Rushing singing and swinging too, with the great Buck Clayton, with the sadly neglected Herschel Evans. AND YES THE GREAT ONE, LESTER YOUNG IS IN ATTENDANCE AND IN ASCENDANCE.

They are swinging the hippest dancers on the planet at the time and maybe ever. They are charged with outswinging the house band which at the time was probably Chick Webb's monster band which is interchanging sets with them. That even for Basie that is a mighty task. To this day you can find elders ready to cut somebody over their view of who won the battle of the bands between Webb and Basie!!!

Even if you are used to the Decca Studio recordings of these tunes--and anyone with ears needs to have those CDs--there is an excitement on this CD that isn't found there. Be part of this historic event. Pick up at least one. I may buy two just to make sure I have one safe, LOL.

What a great CD! I remember my dad playing these exact recordings when I was a little kid. Not a bad song in the lot, with tracks like "Swing It Brother, Swing" and "The Me and You That Used to Be." Anything that includes Billie Holiday, The Count, and Lester Young on sax is a sure winner. Enjoy!

Nine of the tunes are air checks from perhaps the early 40's. The sound quality is quite poor. Only three tunes actually have Billie and the third is a studio session with an orchestra having strings - clearly not Basie. The non-Billie sides are mediocre with an occasional 16 bars of Pres. If you want vintage Billie go to "The Quintessential Billie Holiday", vol. IV. It doesn't have Basie but it has Pres and Teddie.

I brought this cd for "shout and feel" which i had danced Quickstep to and couldnt find it on any other Count Basie albums.I was so dissapointed considering what can be done with technology today regarding the sound quality.If your a Count Basie fanatic i suppose it wont be a problem but i prefer good quality sound reproduction.