Artist: Count Basie
Album: The Atomic Mr. Basie
Year: 1957
Like Duke Ellington's Ellington at Newport, The Atomic Mr. Basie is something of a comeback album for a big band star of the 1930's. I much preferred the Duke's set with its energy bursting at the seams, but Basie's is still a quality jazz album even if it is a bit more subdued. I wish some more of his classic tunes like "One O'Clock Jump" and "April in Paris" were included here, but numbers like "Flight of the Foo Birds" (which sounds like some kind of game show theme song) and "Whirly Bird" are toe-tappers of the highest caliber. My favorite in this collection was "Double O," with its opening little piano melody giving way to pulsing string bass and twisty sax riffs and trumpet fanfares, ending with a killer tenor sax solo. It's a smorgasbord of all my favorite elements of big band.
This set seemed to drag on a little much for my taste. Tracks toward the end of the album like "Midnite Blue" and "Teddy the Toad" seem like filler here, bookended by superior songs. I liked this album well enough, but the big band stuff is starting to wear on me a bit, especially since I know better, more sophisticated jazz is yet to come. Definitely listen to this though, particularly for the tracks I mentioned above.
Rating: Worth a listen
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