Jr. & Count Basie Sammy Davis - Our Shining Hour

Japanese exclusive remastered reissue of Sammy Davis, Jr. & Count Basie's 1965 collaboration, packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. Verve. 2004. Album Description

Excellent!!!!!

I remember this album being part of my father's collection as a child back in the 1960's. I first listened to it as a teenager in the early 70's. What can be said about these two that hasn't already been said! My favorite selection is "Bill Basie Won't You Please Come Home". You get to hear some of Sammy's fancy foot work along with Count's solo piano. The band come's in with a roar at the end. "One take! Can't get no better!", say's Count afterwards. He's right. If you like the big band sound and standard tune's this is a good choice. Try it! September 29, 2008

Great

This CD just feels like you are listening to something special. Two pros at there best. November 22, 2007

A golden nugget shining brightly !!!

Sammy Davis, Jr. and Count Basie make a formidable team: they work well together on this album to produce a great performance. Quincy Jones wrote the musical arrangements on this album and the quality of Quincy's work is abundantly clear. Terrific!

The CD starts with the track "My Shining Hour" as Sammy emotes the way only Sammy could. The jazzy musical arrangement is beautiful. The next song is the romantic ballad "Teach Me Tonight" which is performed flawlessly. It also boasts another killer musical arrangement! SMILES Other classic ballads on this CD include a jazzy rendition of "April In Paris" and the incredibly romantic "You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You." There is the sizzling hot "She's A Woman (W-O-M-A-N);" "The Girl From Ipanema;" and the playful yet very romantic song "Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now."

But there's more. "Work Song" is completely new to me; it is a song about a man who is serving time for a crime he committed. The musical arrangement is beautiful; and the story touches me as well. "Why Try To Change Me Now" is a soulful, slower paced ballad. "New York City Blues" pays tribute to New York City; Sammy sings beautifully and the Count Basie touch enhances the beauty of the song all the more.

The last track offers us something unusual and very pleasant. Sammy asks Basie to play "a little of that buck dance music." Sammy proceeds to tap dance his way through "Bill Basie Won't You Please Come Home" in honor of his father and uncle. Awesome! It works very well. At the end of this number Basie says "It Can't Get No Better Than That." Basie was never more truthful!

The liner notes offer a wonderful essay about Sammy Davis, Jr. written by Quincy Jones shortly after Davis passed away in 1990.

Overall, this CD demonstrates how quality classic jazz should sound. Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie and Quincy Jones labored long and hard to make this album a reality; and all of us are better off because they shared their talents with us.
November 1, 2006

sammy and the count

Davis is probably one of the most talented singers in American popular music, quite often showing significant influence of jazz, just like his pal Sinatra (although I like Sinatra more, Davis is obviously a far better singer).
However this teaming up with Basie's band didn't amount to as much excitement and pleasure: Basie's band is being used as an ordinary back-up orchestra...
This is still great popular music with strong jazz overtones, a real bonanza for Davis fans, but this allbum could have been much better... Frankly, I believe the arranger Quincy Jones is the one most responsible for this sort of concept, with Basie (and, presumably, his band) being quite happy to earn some money without much effort. July 15, 2006

this deserves *****starrs

allright here you have three of the absolute best in their field!
SAMMY DAVIS JR-the best vocalist from that area!
COUNT BASIE-need i explain...
QUINCY JONES-the hottest arranger around!

So this album really holds up to it's promise,sammy is great as allways,count swings as allways and it's beautifully arranged by quincy.

i've written enough this is pure JOY!! April 25, 2006

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