SwingDJs

I'm loving the early Basie that I just added to my young collection. I'd like to get more Basie, and instead of going by albums ("alba" could be too ironic), I'd like to know what your favorite songs are. These, of course, would be for spinning, rather than listening. Thanks for any help.

You should check out the Basie Proper Box Set. That's got a lot of my favorites on it.

Too many to name...

Blues in Hoss' Flat
Rock-A-Bye Basie
... so many to choose from.

So, basically, if it has "Basie" under the title, then it's one of your favorites?

a few:


920 Special
A Little Tempo Please
Back To The Apple
Blues In Hoss Flat
Boogie Woogie
Broadway
Corner Pocket
Every Tub
Everyday I Have The Blues
Good Time Blues
Hallelujah I Love Her So
If I Were A Bell
In A Mellotone
Jive At Five
Jumpin' At The Woodside
Lullaby of Birdland
Moten Swing
One O'Clock Jump
Rock-A-Bye Basie
Segue In C
Sent For You Yesterday
Shorty George
Smack Dab In The Middle
Splanky
Swingin' The Blues
The Comeback
The Daly Jump
The Late Late Show
Topsy
Until I Met You (
Vine Street Rumble
Yes Sir, That's My Baby
You Turned The Tables On Me

Matthew wrote:So, basically, if it has "Basie" under the title, then it's one of your favorites?

Pretty much. As I wrote on my bio of Basie on my website, "For Lindy Hop music, "Count" William Basie is it. There was no better or more prolific Swing bandleader, ever, and there might never again be anyone like him. Any list of "the best" Lindy songs ever will inevitably have his name all over them. Indeed, to the extent that he does not completely dominate all such lists, it is only for variety's sake."

That is true whether you are a Classic lover (Old Testament Basie) or a Groove lover (New Testament).

The seminal, essential New Testament "hits" include the following:

Splanky,
Segue In C,
Moten Swing,
In a Mellow Tone,
Broadway,
Easy Money,
Teddy the Toad,
the Late, Late Show,
Blues In Hoss Flat,
Straight Life,
Cherry Point,
Four, Five, Six
Who Me?
Jive at Five
9:20 Special
Corner Pocket,
Blues Backstage
and even Shiney Stockings.

And then the material with Joe Williams:
Allright O.K.,
No Moon at All
Can't Leave that Woman Alone,
Everyday I Have the Blues
This Can't Be Love
Stop Don't
Too Close for Comfort

What both Rayned and Lawrence said. Basie is hands-down my favorite. He has so much amazing swinging stuff!

I know you're looking for songs, but as you can see above in Rayned and Lawrence's lists, there are so many songs that are recommended, and for each there are many great versions Basie recorded. Thus I'm going to give you my album recommendations for getting started on your Basie collection.

I'm assuming you've started off with one of these:

- The Complete Decca Recordings (1937-1939)
- Count Basie Story (Ryan mentioned this one above)

They both are quite comprehensive for Basie's 30s recordings.

From there you might want to move forward with this extensive (and moderately priced) set of Basie's 40s recordings:

- Complete American RCA-Victor Recordings

Between those sets you'll have a huge collection of Basie's 30s and 40s recordings.

Moving forward from there, you've got many choices as Basie recorded so much in the 50s/60s. A few good starting points would be:

- Basie's Golden '58
- Count Basie at Newport
- The Complete Atomic Basie

Finally, if you're interested in a sampler of his later 70s recordings, pick up:

- The Golden Years

Happy shopping!

Jesse

For late, late Basie also check out On the Road, which contains one of my all-time favorite songs, "Bootie's Blues."

There are about 57 different Count Basie albums on eMusic right now.

Listed as Count Basie (44)
Count Basie Big Band: Montreux '77
88 Basie Street
April In Paris
Basie And Friends
Basie Jam
Basie Jam 2
Count Basie 1937-1943
Count Basie Get Together
Count Basie Jam Montreaux '75
Count Basie Jam: Montreux '77
Count Basie: 1936-1942
Fancy Pants
Farmer's Market Barbecue
For The First Time
For The Second Time
Fun Time
I Told You So
Jam 3
Kansas City 5
Kansas City 6
Kansas City 7
Kansas City Shout
Listen My Children And You Shall Hear
Listen My Children And You Shall Hear (1937-1939) (Disc 1)
Live In 1953! At Birdland
Live In Japan, '78
Loose Walk
Me And You
Mostly Blues...And Some Others
Prime Time
The Basie Big Band
The Best Of Count Basie
The Best of the Count Basie Big Band
The Gifted Ones
Warm Breeze
Yessir, That's My Baby

Listed and Count Basie and his Orchestra (1)
On The Road

Listed as Count Basie and Joe Turner (1)
The Bosses

Listed as Count Basie and Oscar Peterson (4)
Night Rider
Satch And Josh
Satch And Josh...Again
The Timekeepers

Listed as Count Basie and Zoot Sims (1)
Basie & Zoot

Listed as Count Basie and Milt Jackson (2)
Milt Jackson + Count Basie + Big Band Volume 1
Milt Jackson + Count Basie + Big Band Volume 2

Listed as Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie (2)
A Classy Pair
A Perfect Match

Listed as Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Pass, and Count Basie (1)
Digital III At Montreux

Listed as Sarah Vaughan And The Count Basie Orchestra (1)
Send in the Clowns

JesseMiner wrote: Moving forward from there, you've got many choices as Basie recorded so much in the 50s/60s. A few good starting points would be:

- Count Basie at Newport

My favorite selection off this album is Evenin' featuring Jimmy Rushing.

Nate Dogg wrote:There are about 57 different Count Basie albums on eMusic right now.

Dang, Nathan, do you get a commission or something for new emusic enrollees?

No one mentioned the song with Joe Williams: "Roll 'Em Pete" yet.

Ron wrote:

Nate Dogg wrote:There are about 57 different Count Basie albums on eMusic right now.

Dang, Nathan, do you get a commission or something for new emusic enrollees?

Somebody's gotta pimp eMusic, might as well be me.

Nate Dogg wrote:Somebody's gotta pimp eMusic, might as well be me.

I thought Greg had that covered.

It hasn't been mentioned yet, so I gotta do a shout out to the classic April in Paris cd!