With Chu Berry, Lester Young, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Dicky Wells, Harry Edison, and Shad Collins. CD

With Tab Smith, Buddy Tate, Lester Young, Dicky Wells, Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson, Harry Edison and Jo Jones. CD

Seminal work from that key Basie year of 1939 – singles recorded for the Okeh and Vocalion labels – with work from Buck Clayton, Harry Edison, Dicky Wells, Lester Young, and Buddy Tate! CD

Earky 40's Okeh recordings with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Don Byas, Helen Humes and Jimmy Rushing. Tracks include "Love Jumped Out", "Stampede In G Minor", "You Lied To Me", "Wiggle Woogie", "The Jitters" and "9:20 Special". CD

Killer work from an incredibly productive (and soulful!) period in Count Basie's career – mostly recorded between 1958 and 1962! Features material from a huge number of albums – including rare tracks from some Roulette compilations and samplers, and records with Joe Williams and Maynard Ferguson too! CD

Unissued live material from a great stretch in the career of Count Basie – that time when he was turning in some excellent concert performances for Roulette Records, material that's got very similar charms to the music on this set! As with most of Roulette Basie, that revived sense of timing from Neal Hefti is very strongly in play – that magnificent sense of space between the notes that made this period of the Count's ensemble such a great one – with a rhythmic focus that's brilliant, and which opens up with even more excitement when a key soloist steps in! Players include Thad Jones and Snooky young on trumpets, Henry Coker and Benny Powell on trombones, Frank Foster and Eric Dixon on tenors, Freddie Green on guitar, Marshall Royal on alto, and Frank Wess on flute and alto – and there's a bit of vocals on a few tracks from later soul singers OC Smith and Irene Reid. Titles include "Segue In C", "Why Not", "Easy Money", "Backwater Blues", "Lil Darlin", "Easin It", "April In Paris", and "Cute". CD

Unissued live material from a great stretch in the career of Count Basie – that time when he was turning in some excellent concert performances for Roulette Records, material that's got very similar charms to the music on this set! As with most of Roulette Basie, that revived sense of timing from Neal Hefti is very strongly in play – that magnificent sense of space between the notes that made this period of the Count's ensemble such a great one – with a rhythmic focus that's brilliant, and which opens up with even more excitement when a key soloist steps in! Players include Thad Jones and Snooky young on trumpets, Henry Coker and Benny Powell on trombones, Frank Foster and Eric Dixon on tenors, Freddie Green on guitar, Marshall Royal on alto, and Frank Wess on flute and alto – and there's a bit of vocals on a few tracks from later soul singers OC Smith and Irene Reid. Titles include "Segue In C", "Why Not", "Easy Money", "Backwater Blues", "Lil Darlin", "Easin It", "April In Paris", and "Cute". CD

An excellent gimmick from the United Artists label – a way of mixing their strong run of 60s soundtrack hits with the world of jazz – thanks to Count Basie and his group taking on a whole host of themes from the successful James Bond films! Count Basie brings a soulful swing to the work of John Barry, who scored most of these cuts – hitting hard on the tracks with his own smoking piano, and an orchestra filled with some of his best players – including Al Grey on trombone, Eric Dixon on saxes, and Freddie Greene on guitar – plus guest tenor work from Eddie Lockjaw Davis, an artist who wasn't credited on the session at he time. Arrangements are by Chico O'Farrill and George Williams – and titles include "Thunderball", "From Russia With Love", "007", "Girl Trouble", and "Goldfinger". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the high points in Basie's long career – backed by a great band that features Frank Wess, Thad Jones, Billy Mitchell, Frank Foster, Freddie Green, and vocals from Joe Williams. CD

A great collection of live material recorded during one of the high points in Basie's long career – his collaboration with arranger Neal Hefti! The band is great and features Frank Wess, Thad Jones, Billy Mitchell, Frank Foster, Freddie Green, and vocals from Joe Williams – and if that wasn't enough it also features a guest appearance by Sammy Davis Jr! CD

A mighty jazzy Christmas from the Count Basie Orchestra – already great on their own in an instrumental mode – but joined here by a few different singers, including Carmen Bradford, Ledisi, and Johnny Mathis – all of whom add a little extra sparkle to the tunes! Pianist Ellis Marsalis also gets plenty of time in the spotlight – stretching out in the lead on piano on a few tunes, in a mode that recalls Basie's vamping in years past – and titles include "Let It Snow", "It's The Holiday Season", "Good Swing Wenceslas", "Winter Wonderland", "The Christmas Song", "Sleigh Ride", "Little Drummer Boy", and "Have Yourself A Merry Christmas". CD

Danny Turner and Manny Boyd on alto saxophone and flute, John Williams on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, Bill Hughes on bass trombone, Charlton Johnson on guitar, George Caldwell on piano, Doug Miller and Kenny Hing on tenor saxophone and flute, Clarence Banks, Robert Trowers, and Mel Wanzo on trombone, Bob Ojeda, Derrick Gardner, Melton Mustafa, and Mike Williams on trumpet, Cleveland Eaton on bass, and David Gibson on drums. CD

Recorded live in Detroit – titles include "Firm Roots", "Three In One Blues", "Way Out Basie", and "Count Basie Remembrance Suite". CD

Sarah Vaughan is working here with the Count Basie orchestra – but in a way that's still relatively relaxed, and very much in keeping with her best modes of the Pablo years! There's less of the Basie bombast than you might expect on the record – and the group, arranged and conducted by Sam Nestico, leave plenty of room for Vaughan to step out in that warmly flowing vocal style that characterized her best later albums. Most numbers build slowly – with Sarah's vocals leading the cues, and the band glowing in the background to color things in before taking off – and titles include "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues", "Just Friends", "Ill Wind", "If You Could See Me Now", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", "Indian Summer", and "When Your Lover Has Gone". CD

Sarah Vaughan is working here with the Count Basie orchestra – but in a way that's still relatively relaxed, and very much in keeping with her best modes of the Pablo years! There's less of the Basie bombast than you might expect on the record – and the group, arranged and conducted by Sam Nestico, leave plenty of room for Vaughan to step out in that warmly flowing vocal style that characterized her best later albums. Most numbers build slowly – with Sarah's vocals leading the cues, and the band glowing in the background to color things in before taking off – and titles include "I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues", "Just Friends", "Ill Wind", "If You Could See Me Now", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", "Indian Summer", and "When Your Lover Has Gone". CD

Includes 89 orchestra and small group tracks, plus a thick booklet with detailed notes. Tracks include "I'll Remember April", "St. Louis Blues", "Taxi War Dance", "Pound Cake", "Easy Does It", Stay On It", "Rock-A-Bye Basie", and "Ebony Rhapsody". CD

Includes 89 orchestra and small group tracks, plus a thick booklet with detailed notes. Tracks include "I'll Remember April", "St. Louis Blues", "Taxi War Dance", "Pound Cake", "Easy Does It", Stay On It", "Rock-A-Bye Basie", and "Ebony Rhapsody". CD

A collection of 28 early Basie recordings for Vocalion, Columbia, and Brunswick labels, plus unissued masters! Includes work with the orchestras of Mildred Bailey, Harry James, Glenn Hardman, Teddy Wilson, plus the Basie orchestra, with vocals by Billie Holiday, Helen Humes, and Jimmy Rushing. LP, Vinyl record album

With Freddie Green on guitar and shaker, Cleveland Eaton on bass, Gregg Field and Harold Jones on drums. Orchestra includes Willie Cook and Harry Edison on trumpet, Sonny Cohn, Dale Carley, Frank Szabo, and Bob Summers on trumpet and flugelhorn, Mitchell Wood, Dennis Wilson, Grover Mitchell, and Bill Hughes on trombone, Eric Dixon on tenor, Kenny Hing on tenor and flute, Bobby Plater and Danny Turner on alto and flute, and Johnny Williams on baritone. CD

A split album that collects work by the Count Basie Orchestra featuring vocalist Anita Day, plus two tracks by the Tadd Dameron trio. CD

Hard to believe it took a few decades in the careers of both players for them to record together – but that's exactly what you've got here – a landmark meeting of Count Basie and Duke Ellington from the early 60s, near the tail end of Duke's classic stretch on Columbia! Teo Macero produced the session with just the right amount of care and class to keep the whole thing from being an exercise in cliche – and there's a surprising amount of depth here that you might not expect – the best modern elements of Duke's orchestra on Columbia, coming into play with a bit more of the fire and vamp of the Basie group at the time! Titles include "Battle Royal", "Wild Man", "Segue In C", "Jumpin At The Woodside", "To You", and "Take The A Train". LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection of rare material by Hawk, put together by Henri Renaud for CBS France. The set features tracks recorded in a number of different settings – with The Chocolate DAndies, Red McKenzie's Mound City Blue Blowers, Benny Goodman, Jack Purvis Orchestra, Count Basie, and Hawkins' own orchestra. Titles include "Dark Clouds", "Hush My Mouth", "Ain't Cha Got Music", "9:20 Special", and "Feedin The Bean". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare Decca album lead by the smoky vocals of Beverly Kenney – a really unique late 50s/early 60s jazz girl who once worked for the Dorsey brothers, the Count Basie Orchestra and others, and only ever cut a handful of albums under her own name! Sings for Playboys is an intimate, sultry batch of tunes that have a really unique feel thanks to the super spare accompaniment of just Ellis Larkins on piano and Joe Benjamin on bass. That approach does a great job of transforming your senses to the smoky, boozy after hours cabaret that must have been in mind when the recordings were conceived. The album only ever appeared briefly in the late 50s (possibly because of the unauthorized and quite obvious reference to Playboy Magazine in the title and in the cover photo) but it's sure great to see it reappear – they didn't make a lot records like this in the big band dominated recordings of the era! 12 tracks including "Do It Again", "A Woman's Intuition", "Mama, Do I Gotta?", "A Lover Like You", "A Summer Romance", "It's Magic", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Classic recordings by Moten's Kansas City Orchestra, featuring a young Count Basie on piano. LP, Vinyl record album

There was a special sort of magic in the larger groups on the French scene of the postwar years – a quality of playing and arrangement that wasn't the same as American big bands, and which instead brought in some really creative interplay between the instrumental elements in the lineup! It might be said that these groups were born after bop, and also carried some modern jazz ideas forward too – and that's definitely the case here, with work from pianist Andre Persiany – whose groups on the record are all pretty darn hip! As indicated by the title, there's some wonderful work from Guy Lafitte on tenor – a player who can move between familiar and modern modes with effortless ease – and other players inlcude Bill Jackson and Lucian Juanico on trumpets, Michel De Villers on baritone, Maurice Meunier and Jean Claude Fohenbach on tenors, and Teddy Hameline and Michel Attenoux on altos – players who move beautifully together under Persiany's leadership. A number of cuts are originals by the leader, and there's a number of Basie tunes, remade in a great way – as the 23 track CD pulls together material from three different 10" album releases, the last of which is Andre Persiany Joue Count Basie. Titles include "Halbe Funf", "Blue Organ", "T Bone Steak", "Beer Barrel Bounce", "Little Story", "Panorama", "Shorty George", "Two Cats & A Piece Of Lung", and "Just For Fun". CD

A collection of TV show appearances, with duets with Ella Fitzgerald and accompaniment by Count Basie and orchestra. LP, Vinyl record album

One of Sinatra's greatest records ever – pure genius all the way through! Frank's backed here by the orchestra of Count Basie, with some incredible arrangements by Quincy Jones that really have a jazzy, syncopated kick to them. The move seems to be an unintentional way of covering for Frank's slightly failing pipes – but it also picks up on a seminal beat change in 60s pop, the same sort of gentle snapping groove that you'd find in the best work by Bacharach, a shift that really infuses Frank's vocals with a whole new sound, one that shows that he's ready to keep on growing and growing after being stuck in a Nelson Riddle rut. All tracks are superb – hip 60s pop and showtunes, like "I Believe In You", "Fly Me To the Moon", "More", "The Good Life", "Wives & Lovers", and "I Wanna Be Around". CD

One of Sinatra's greatest records ever – pure genius all the way through! Frank's backed here by the orchestra of Count Basie, with some incredible arrangements by Quincy Jones that really have a jazzy, syncopated kick to them. The move seems to be an unintentional way of covering for Frank's slightly failing pipes – but it also picks up on a seminal beat change in 60s pop, the same sort of gentle snapping groove that you'd find in the best work by Bacharach, a shift that really infuses Frank's vocals with a whole new sound, one that shows that he's ready to keep on growing and growing after being stuck in a Nelson Riddle rut. All tracks are superb – hip 60s pop and showtunes, like "I Believe In You", "Fly Me To the Moon", "More", "The Good Life", "Wives & Lovers", and "I Wanna Be Around". CD

One of Sinatra's greatest records ever – pure genius all the way through! Frank's backed here by the orchestra of Count Basie, with some incredible arrangements by Quincy Jones that really have a jazzy, syncopated kick to them. The move seems to be an unintentional way of covering for Frank's slightly failing pipes – but it also picks up on a seminal beat change in 60s pop, the same sort of gentle snapping groove that you'd find in the best work by Bacharach, a shift that really infuses Frank's vocals with a whole new sound, one that shows that he's ready to keep on growing and growing after being stuck in a Nelson Riddle rut. All tracks are superb – hip 60s pop and showtunes, like "I Believe In You", "Fly Me To the Moon", "More", "The Good Life", "Wives & Lovers", and "I Wanna Be Around". LP, Vinyl record album

A delightful little jukebox EP from one of Sinatra's greatest records ever – pure genius all the way through! Frank's backed here by the orchestra of Count Basie, with some incredible arrangements by Quincy Jones that really have a jazzy, syncopated kick to them. The move seems to be an unintentional way of covering for Frank's slightly failing pipes – but it also picks up on a seminal beat change in 60s pop, the same sort of gentle snapping groove that you'd find in the best work by Bacharach, a shift that really infuses Frank's vocals with a whole new sound, one that shows that he's ready to keep on growing and growing after being stuck in a Nelson Riddle rut. All tracks are superb – hip 60s pop and showtunes, like "Fly Me To the Moon", "More", "The Good Life", and "I Wanna Be Around". 7-inch, Vinyl record

Sinatra-Basie is the inaugural effort from the 2 leaders and the stellar orchestra – and it's a great one. Sinatra is as charismatic and loose out front as he's ever been on record, and the Basie & his players swing brilliantly with arrangements by Neal Hefti. Titles include "Pennies From Heaven", "Please Be Kind", "My Kind Of Girl", "Learnin' The Blues", "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and more. CD

Sinatra-Basie is the inaugural effort from the 2 leaders and the stellar orchestra – and it's a great one. Sinatra is as charismatic and loose out front as he's ever been on record, and the Basie & his players swing brilliantly with arrangements by Neal Hefti. Titles include "Pennies From Heaven", "Please Be Kind", "My Kind Of Girl", "Learnin' The Blues", "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra, Billie Holiday & her Orchestra, Mildred Bailey & her Orchestra, Harry James & his Orchestra, Timme Rosenkrantz & his Barrelhouse Barons, the Kansas City Six, Glenn Hardman & his Hammond Five and more. CD

The "shellac dust" in the title will let you know what sort of territory you're in here – Christmas songs that go way way back, to the glory days of the 78rpm single, served up in a host of jazz and vocal modes! The set features a fair bit of tracks from the prewar years, and although some of the song titles are familiar, the choice of cuts is unique – so that you'll hear a fair bit of unusual readings of Christmas classics – all of which makes for a package that really lives up to other Bear Family Holiday sets that we've been digging for years! CD version features 28 tracks in all – and titles include "Snow Ball" by Louis Armstrong, "Peace Sister Peace" by Monette Moore & The Ebonaires, "Jingle Bells" by Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke, "And The Angels Sing" by Count Basie with Helen Humes, "What Will Santa Claus Say" by Louis Prima, "Blow Blow Thou Winter Winds" by Bob Crosby with Marion Mann, "Let It Snow" by The Ramblers Orchestra, "Santa's Secret" by Johnny Guarnieri with Slam Stewart, "Ring Dem Bells" by Charlie Barnet, "Christmas Night In Harlem" by Paul Whiteman with Jack Teagarden, "There's Frost On The Moon" by Chick Webb with Ella Fitzgerald, "Bells Of Auld Lang Syne" by Joel Cowan & Thornel Swartz, and "Santa Claus Came In The Spring" by Putney Dandridge. CD

The "shellac dust" in the title will let you know what sort of territory you're in here – Christmas songs that go way way back, to the glory days of the 78rpm single, served up in a host of jazz and vocal modes! The set features a fair bit of tracks from the prewar years, and although some of the song titles are familiar, the choice of cuts is unique – so that you'll hear a fair bit of unusual readings of Christmas classics – all of which makes for a package that really lives up to other Bear Family Holiday sets that we've been digging for years! LP version features 14 tracks in all – and titles include "Snow Ball" by Louis Armstrong, "Peace Sister Peace" by Monette Moore & The Ebonaires, "Jingle Bells" by Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke, "And The Angels Sing" by Count Basie with Helen Humes, "What Will Santa Claus Say" by Louis Prima, "Blow Blow Thou Winter Winds" by Bob Crosby with Marion Mann, "Let It Snow" by The Ramblers Orchestra, "Santa's Secret" by Johnny Guarnieri with Slam Stewart, "Ring Dem Bells" by Charlie Barnet, "Christmas Night In Harlem" by Paul Whiteman with Jack Teagarden, "There's Frost On The Moon" by Chick Webb with Ella Fitzgerald, "Bells Of Auld Lang Syne" by Joel Cowan & Thornel Swartz, and "Santa Claus Came In The Spring" by Putney Dandridge. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes recordings with the orchestras of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, and Mal Waldron. LP, Vinyl record album