Count Basie Farmers Market

HEP Records presents a collection of works from the great Count Basie and His Orchestra entitled Listen…

The MPS label scored a coup when they were able to set up a recording date with the Basie orchestra.

Jazz fans who discovered Count Basie and Joe Williams in the decades that followed Basie's association with Roulette between 1958 and 1962 have been frustrated with the limited availability of many of these recordings in the era of the compact disc.

In celebration of the 80th Anniversary, The Count Basie Orchestra releases its first Christmas album, A Very Swingin' Basie Christmas!

"Ray Sings, Basie Swings" combines archival, never-before-heard Ray Charles vocal recordings with brand-new performances by the Count Basie Orchestra. This ground breaking album gives listeners the unprecedented experience of hearing Ray Charles at the dazzling peak of his vocal prowess. "Ray Sings, Basie Swings" was created with the most up-to-date recording and mixing technology, offering sound quality that is state-of-the art.

No, the Count isn't literally back… in fact, he's never really been away, as the Count Basie Orchestra has kept rolling along under a series of leaders since Basie's death in April 1984. This latest incarnation, directed by the Count's longtime bass trombonist Bill Hughes, was recorded in concert in October '05 at Denryoku Hall in Sendai, Japan. Following in the footsteps of Basie's Old Testament and New Testament bands, Aaron Woodward writes in his liner notes, "We are calling this the 'Born Again' era of the Count Basie Orchestra".

Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 is an album by American jazz bandleader and pianist Count Basie featuring small group performances recorded in 1962 for the Impulse! label. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating "One of Count Basie's few small-group sessions of the '60s was his best".

The MPS label scored a coup when they were able to set up a recording date with the Basie orchestra. It took place on October 20th, 1969 at Universal Studios in Chicago. As agreed upon, the band brought along standards from the Basie book, and the Count fulfilled MPS head Hans Georg Brunner-Schwers wish that Basie play longer piano passages than usual; normally Basie limited himself to a short riff here and there.

Ray Sings, Basie Swings is a posthumous album that mixes previously unreleased Ray Charles vocal performances, recorded at live concerts in the mid-1970s, with newly recorded instrumental tracks by the contemporary Count Basie Orchestra.

A gathering of legendary artists have come together to join the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Scotty Barnhart for this historic release celebrating the iconic band from its earliest years, throughout the decades with Sinatra and Ella, and through to today’s contemporary artists.