Benny Elder

Count Basie - The Complete Roulette Studio Recordings Of Count Basie & His Orchestra (1993) {10CD Box Set Mosaic MD10-149}
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© 1957-62, 1993 Mosaic Records | MD10-149
Jazz / Big Band / Swing

Some of Count Basie's finest recordings were cut for the Roulette label during 1957-1962, and all of his studio performances are included on this massive Mosaic ten-CD boxed set. Among the classic former LPs that are reissued here are The Atomic Mr. Basie, Basie Plays Hefti, Chairman of the Board, Everyday I Have the Blues, and Kansas City Suite. With such soloists as trumpeters Thad Jones and Joe Newman, the tenors of Frank Foster and Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Frank Wess on alto and flute, vocals by Joe Williams, and the timeless arrangements of Neal Hefti, Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Ernie Wilkins, and Frank Wess among others, this essential (but unfortunately limited-edition) set features the second Count Basie Orchestra at its very best.

Gary Keys' 1986 film capturing Dizzy Gillespie and band live in Redondo Beach, CA. The trumpeter/bandleader is in great form, leading his crack band through classics from various parts of his career. Filmed in Gary Keys signature style, with lots of closeups of the players, capturing all of the impish comedy and good times of the elder statesman of jazz.

Few record labels can boast as glorious a legacy as Sony Classical. This lavish four-disc set chronicles the finest performances available on the label from the past ninety-five years. Eighty selections comprising over four hours of music are accompanied by two lavishly illustrated booklets highlighting Sony Classical's stellar history.

Many improvisers would agree that having the feeling of the blues is a crucial part of jazz expression; however, the jazz and blues worlds don't interact nearly as often as they should. There are jazz musicians who will play Miles Davis' "All Blues" or Charlie Parker's "Parker's Mood" on a regular basis but wouldn't know John Lee Hooker from Little Milton; there are blues artists who are much more likely to work with a rock musician than a jazz musician. So it is a rare treat to hear a blues-oriented guitarist and a jazz-oriented guitarist co-leading a session, which is exactly what happens on More Conversations in Swing Guitar. This 2003 release is a sequel to bluesman Duke Robillard and jazzman Herb Ellis' 1999 encounter Conversations in Swing Guitar, and the CD proves that good things can happen when jazz and blues players interact. More Conversations in Swing Guitar is an album of very blues-minded instrumental jazz – it's hardly a carbon copy of Robillard's work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, but the bluesman has no problem appearing in a jazz-oriented setting.

A rarely seen filmed performance by the splendid Miles Davis septet, recorded live in Warsaw in 1983 - with saxophonist Bill Evans and guitarist John Scofield. This fabulous, complete concert was filmed shortly after Miles Davis recorded his celebrated album 'Star People' - and features many of the compositions from the album, although it hadn`t actually yet been released when they performed in Poland. Bill Evans (the sax player) had been replaced by Branford Marsalis on the original studio versions of 'That`s Right' and 'Code M.D.'

Reissued in this two-CD set are all of the recordings from the first Cannonball Adderley Quintet, a group that despite its talents failed commercially. With Cannonball on alto, cornetist Nat Adderley, pianist Junior Mance, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, it is surprising that the group did not make it, but the Adderleys were fairly unknown at the time.

This CD reissues two complete LPs from near the beginning of altoist Cannonball Adderley's career. The first session is quite unusual for Adderley (who was completely unknown just a few months earlier) was given a very early opportunity to record with strings. He sounds fine on 11 standards and Terry Gibbs' "Lonely Dreams" but mostly sticks near the melody while Richard Hayman's Orchestra sounds rather anonymous. The 1958 sessions finds him performing ten songs from the early-'40s Duke Ellington show "Jump for Joy" (including "Just Squeeze Me," "I Got It Bad," and "Jump for Joy") while accompanied by a string quartet, a rhythm section, and trumpeter Emmett Berry; Bill Russo provided the generally stimulating arrangements. The formerly rare music on this CD is enjoyable but not as essential as Adderley's slightly later Riverside albums.

Why Am I Treated So Bad! is a live album by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, recorded at the Capitol studios in Los Angeles in 1967. The song "I'm on My Way", was written by his nephew Nat Adderley, Jr., who at the time was an 11-year-old living in Teaneck, New Jersey.