Customer Reviews

Swing Shift

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

 

 

"Swing Shift", the latest album by the Count Basie Orchestra directed by Grover Mitchell, is in the finest tradition of the original band. This band swings, playing marvelous arrangements Basie would have loved. Having heard the Basie band any number of times over the years, before and after Bill Basie's passing, it's safe to say that its great sound will cross the bridge to the new millenium and be around for decades to come.

And "Swing Shift"! What a great title for the Basie band's last album of the 20th Century!

George Spink, former host, "Swing Shift" (1978-1981), WBEZ-FM Chicago.

The sound reproduction is outstanding. I liked the sound quality. The big band sound of Basie is back with this album. I recommend this to any one who is looking for good big band music to listen to. I heard the demo at a store and then stayed to listen to the whole album. I asked to buy it from the guy on the spot and he sold it to me!

This CD lives up to the very high standard established by Count Basie himself. Grover Mitchell and other veterans of the orchestra get it right in all the ways that the Basie Band is known for. Play it back-to-back with any other Basie issue and it delivers. You will notice some differences, especially at piano. That, of course, can't be helped. The Basie sound pulses through just the same and it's a slice of immortality to hear it continue into the 21st Century.

I'm a straight-ahead big band jazz lover, and I don't have the problems with this that some do. Give it a hearing before you slam it, guys. Yes, there will be Basie purists who won't like this as much as the 1950s Joe Williams-assisted band or the 1960s recordings with Tony Bennett, still others who think the best Basie recordings were made during the prewar and wartime (WW II) years. I happen to like all the Basie bands for different reasons, but they all swing. As a matter of fact, almost NO band then or now could/can swing as hard as the Count's or the Duke's at their very best -- and admitting that takes nothing away from a very good contemporary effort, which is what we have here in Swing Shift.

One thing you can say about both the Basie and the Ellington bands: they evolved through the decades while still retaining their their respective feel and sounds and swing. On first hearing, I'm tempted to group this recording more with the likes of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, the Bob Mintzer Big Band, the Bob Florence Limited Edition, the Bill Holman Band, Bill O'Connell's Chicago Skyliners Big Band, Bill Watrous's band, and the later Buddy Rich Big Band rather than with old-school followers like the George Gee Big Band. Nothing wrong with that, per se -- and yet, I still hear some of the Count in there; and the longer I listen, the more I like what I hear. It still makes me want to dance, just as classic Basie does.

This is Basie without Basie, yet still recognizeably Basie in places. And there most certainly *are* danceable tunes on this like Blues On Top, which evokes a typical laid-back Basie feel while still retaining some energy. It may not match the Count and Williams doing Smack Dab In The Middle or Too Close For Comfort live, but let's face it: that's a VERY high standard, which is why I'm giving this four stars and not five. However, that a post-Basie Basie band can still sound like his, play new tunes, and still want to make me dance is an achievement, folks.

Credit where credit is due: if you love Count Basie -- particularly the Atomic Basie years -- give this a listen. Chances are, it'll grow on you just as it did on me. Absolutely worth the money.

There is no denying the superb talent of the Count Basie Orchestra. I've seen them live, and they have an incredible sound, but this CD is a far cry from the CBO of the 40's and 50's, that REALLY could swing! The faster numbers are not all that inspiring, and none of the songs had that something I can't describe that gets you foot tapping to that infectious swingin' rhythm.