Back to Basie Orchestra

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Bob the Builder
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Back to Basie Orchestra

#1 Post by Bob the Builder » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:23 pm

I was doing some web looking about came across this band:

Back to Basie Orchestra based in the UK.
They have a CD out link

From a google search this band is danced to in London. If you know them would you recomend the CD? Whats the band like?

Brian
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Campus Five
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#2 Post by Campus Five » Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:42 pm

Many of the people who attended the first London Balboa Festival told me the band was very "New Testament." The samples I saw then and tunelists suggest as much. You're out of luck if you're looking for old school Basie.

Also, this is minor, but... The guitar player is holding the wrong kind of guitar for what he's doing. It's not conclusive, but it suggests a lack of knowing what they are doing. Sort of like wearing tennis shoes to your first dance lesson.
"I don''t dig that two beat jive the New Orleans cats play.
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
--Count Basie
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Bob the Builder
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#3 Post by Bob the Builder » Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:05 pm

Campus Five wrote:
Also, this is minor, but... The guitar player is holding the wrong kind of guitar for what he's doing. It's not conclusive, but it suggests a lack of knowing what they are doing. Sort of like wearing tennis shoes to your first dance lesson.
You Guitar nerd. :D But we love you for your knowledge. Keep it coming. :)
Thanks for the information.

Brian :D
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junglekid
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#4 Post by junglekid » Mon Feb 06, 2006 5:11 am

The Back to Basie Orchestra are actually pretty good, with good energy and a solid swing. However, a common comment from the Bal Fest was that they're more interested in themselves than in giving the dancers a good time - it sometimes seemed that they'd rather we stopped distracting attention from them so everyone would just watch and listen. & yes - they are fairly NT.

If you're in the UK, Skin Deep do a better job on the Basie stuff (better charts) but top of the tree are Echoes of Ellington. I can't recommend them enough. For genius old school Ellington swing, they rule.

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#5 Post by julius » Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:21 pm

Campus Five wrote:Also, this is minor, but... The guitar player is holding the wrong kind of guitar for what he's doing. It's not conclusive, but it suggests a lack of knowing what they are doing. Sort of like wearing tennis shoes to your first dance lesson.
It's not the instrument, it's the musician.

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#6 Post by CafeSavoy » Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:43 pm

Which guitar player?

Campus Five
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#7 Post by Campus Five » Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:26 pm

Image
Image

That one.
julius wrote:It's not the instrument, it's the musician.
That sentiment is nice, but not all that realistic.
"I don''t dig that two beat jive the New Orleans cats play.
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
--Count Basie
www.campusfive.com
www.myspace.com/campusfive
www.swingguitar.blogspot.com

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#8 Post by CafeSavoy » Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:33 am

Campus Five wrote:Image
Image

That one.
Thanks. Looks like the same guitar in both photos. Looking at their web site it seems they have (or had) two guitarists, wasn't sure which was which.

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#9 Post by julius » Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:43 pm

Charlie Parker had a cruddy-ass horn and he still sounded like Charlie Parker. I could give Howard Alden my beat up piece of junk Yamaha and he'd still be ripping out some amazing stuff.

Having nice gear obviously makes a musician sound better, but dissing on a musician for not having "the right gear" smacks of elitism. I'm just calling you on it. And yes, I did notice that you said it was a minor thing, but if it's so minor, why bring it up?

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#10 Post by Campus Five » Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:22 pm

Because there is only one Charlie Parker and because that's definitely not Howard Alden.

Not having the right gear suggests either a lack of knowledge of the style or lack of care with getting the tools for the job. I can tell you from personal experience that if a guy shows up with the "wrong" gear, the odds are that he doesn't really do the style. There's a chance, but not a very good one. It's not that he can't do the style on the gear, but chances are that if he did the style he'd have the right gear.

I'd love to hear the guy is a swing specialist, but I just doubt it. Since they have no sound samples as yet, I have nothing to go on but those pictures.
"I don''t dig that two beat jive the New Orleans cats play.
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
--Count Basie
www.campusfive.com
www.myspace.com/campusfive
www.swingguitar.blogspot.com

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#11 Post by JesseMiner » Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:56 pm

I love Count Basie and was immediately interested in hearing this band seeing that they are doing Basie's new testament material (though I would be equally curious to hear a band doing old testament). Of course I have heard plenty of bands not pull of this style well, so I would definitely like to hear some sound samples or get a thoughtful opinion on these specific recordings before picking them up.

Jesse

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Bob the Builder
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#12 Post by Bob the Builder » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:17 pm

Does anyone have the Cd from their website?

I have come across a few albums (can't think names right now) where bands have done Basie songs in Basie style new or Old Testament. So it's always a mater of going through them to work out the good form the average.
The thing about New Testament (post 1951) the recording quality is really good, so most of the time bands re-recording a chart are just a lesser musician quality than the original. At least with the 30's and 40's charts that are re-recording and ordinary listener will hear so much more in them the original recordings where the recording technology of the time did not pick up everything.

Brian :D
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#13 Post by julius » Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:20 pm

Campus Five wrote: Not having the right gear suggests either a lack of knowledge of the style or lack of care with getting the tools for the job.
Regardless, the guy playing guitar on that CD (Andy Kuc) is clearly not the one in the photo. Apparently Kuc has played in some trad jazz bands as well.

I still think 'not having the right gear' makes no sense. What is the right gear? Should drummers all use calfskin heads and period hi-hat mechanisms? Should all guitarists use Wegen picks? Should big band guitarists be amplified at all? Should neo-swing band members not wear fedoras?

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#14 Post by GemZombie » Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:59 pm

Don't be silly Julius. You might not be able to make specific rules for such things (exact drums etc), but you can assume some basic things.

For example, you can't produce a legit swing or trad jazz sound by using an electric bass. It's just not going to happen. That kind of distinction can be made, and I think that's Jonathan's point. Where that level of authenticity lies is a bit of a grey area and open discussion I would think.

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#15 Post by Campus Five » Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:41 pm

I'm just saying that showing up to a baseball game with a wiffle bat doesn't bode well.

Let me tell you a story....
I did a masterclass in highchool with drummer Jeff Hamilton. My high school trio played "All the Things You Are." We played it while we reading it out of the real book - i.e. we really didn't know the tune that well. We also started right at the top. We finished and he asked why didn't we play the intro. Of course, we asked "what intro?" "Exactly," he replied.

He could tell we didn't know the song well, and clearly did not have a proper vernacular understanding of the conventions of the tune. The intro to "ATTYA" is taken from Bird's "Bird of Paradise." I had never even heard the intro.

Its one thing to deliberately choose not play the intro. But more likely we just didn't know any better.
"I don''t dig that two beat jive the New Orleans cats play.
My boys and I have four heavy beats to the bar and no cheating!
--Count Basie
www.campusfive.com
www.myspace.com/campusfive
www.swingguitar.blogspot.com

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