The Basie Orchestra pays tribute to their departed Count – and the groove here is every bit the sort you'd expect from the ensemble at their height! Frank Foster's in the lead with the group at this point, and he's definitely back in the Basie bag, after stretching out soulfully on his own in the 70s – guiding players who include Eric Dixon, Danny Turner, and David Glasser on reeds; Sonny Cohn, Byron Stripling, and Mike Williams on trumpets; Bill Hughes, Mel Wanzo, and Clarence Banks on trombones; and rhythm from Carl Ace Carter on piano, Cleveland Eaton on bass, and Duffy Jackson on drums. Carmen Bradford sings a bit, and titles include "Papa Foss", "Bring On The Raindrops", "Katherine The Great", "Whirly Bird", and "The Count Basie Remembrance Suite". CD

Recorded live in Detroit. 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

Includes a number of V-Disc recordings – plus singles for Columbia and Parlophone – with work from Lucky Thompson, Illinois Jacquet, Butty Tate, Harry Edison, and Joe Newman! 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

A collection of great Verve material – with cuts that include "Tid Bits", "Kansas City Wrinkles", "South Of The Border", "Happy House", "Shanhaied", "Nasty Magnus", and "Michelle". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes tracks "Swingin The Blues", "Jumpin At The Woodside", "Topsy", "Every Tub", "Tickle Toe", "High Tide", "Blue & Sentimental and many more. LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing little record – with results that are even greater than the sum of its parts! As you'd guess from the title, Count Basie takes on the 60s sounds of The Beatles – but he's doing so with arrangements from the great Chico O'Farrill – who really keeps things interesting throughout – throwing in those hip rhythms and odd twists and turns he first forged with his Latin recordings – in ways that definitely live up to the groovy pedigree of the tunes. And the Basie group's got a groovier sound than usual – probably due to the arrangements – and Basie plays some nice organ riffs on a number of the album's tracks – one of the Count's rare outings on the instrument, always a treat. Titles include "Help!", "Can't Buy Me Love", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "All My Loving", and "And I Love Her". Proof that The Beatles' influence was way farther reaching than you'd ever expect! LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent gimmick – and yet another way that United Artists was trying to push its "Bond" catalog in the 60s! Count Basie brings a soulful swing to the work of John Barry – hitting hard on the tracks with his own smoking piano, and an orchestra filled with some of his best players, like Al Grey, Eric Dixon, and Freddie Green – as well as 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

Features 17 tracks recorded with his orchestra – including 3 unissued alternate takes – plus 3 more tracks recorded with his sextet. CD

Orchestra personnel include Jimmy Forrest, Al Grey, Curtis Fuller, John Duke, Butch Miles, Eric Dixion, Fred Green, Bill Hughes, and Pete Minger. LP, Vinyl record album

Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra featuring Count Basie. 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

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

George Benson more than earns the title on this one – given that most of the tracks feature backings from the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Frank Foster – a great ensemble who really help keep things soulful throughout! Despite the date of the set, the feel here is a bit more classic than most of Benson's work from the time – as the group bring a full acoustic soul to the record – a swelling, swaying brace of horns that seems to push George's vocals a bit more than usual – past that simply sweet style that was the usual Benson bag. There's a range and depth here that's really surprising – a quality that goes past the hokey title, which might make you expect less from the record – and although there's a few brief moments that get slightly contemporary, these pass quickly in favor of a classic groove. Titles include "On Green Dolphin Street", "Without A Song", "Ready Now That You Are", "Basie's Bag", "Skylark", and "How Do You Keep The Music Playing". CD

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 before now (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. CD

An all-star tribute to Ella Fitzgerald – a special show recorded live at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, in celebration of what would have been her 100th Birthday! The whole event is hosted by David Allen Grier, and begins with a vintage 1934 Apollo Amateur Night radio broadcast – before going into a host of Ella favorites, done by others – mostly with backing by the Count Basie Orchestra! Patti Austin sings "A Tisket A Tasket" and "When I Get Low I Get High", Andra Day sings "Ain't Misbehavin", Ayo & Afro Blue perform "Oh Lady Be Good", Lizz Wright sings "Love You Madly" and "The Nearness Of You", Cassandra Wilson sings "Cry Me A River", and a few other numbers feature different pairings of the artists involved. CD

Not your usual public domain compilation of random big band tracks but actually a sweet collection of twenty orchestra and large groups albums by Billy Taylor, Art Farmer, Gil Evans, Louis Bellson, Stan Kenton, Marty Paich, Count Basie, Pete Rugolo, Duke Ellington, George Russell, and others. Yes, the packaging is a little skimpy, but the music is great! CD