Count Basie - America's #1 Band: The Columbia Years

A+ for the Basie Cats! and AMAZINGLY, the Columbia guys got it right.

I don't have to tell anyone how great these tracks are. How does one guy get all 16 of the greatest swing musicians in the world into one band? This set has some Great surprises: Live sides, and rare alternates, like "It's The Same Old South", (a different take than the version on the vinyl "Superchief")

I have several of these on the ARC/Columbia family of labels (Vocallion, Brunswick, Okey, etc.) both 78s and Lps. and have been trying and failing to replace them with decent CD copies. COLUMBIA FINNALLY GOT IT RIGHT!. This set is a pleasure, and for once, it sounds great! You will NEVER be dissapointed with this purchace.

Now if Columbia would refund everybody's money for the unlistenable versions of these tunes they issued on the "Essential" series, and the "This Is Jazz" series etc., we could use it to replace our copies of the Armstrong Hot Fives that they had previous butchered, or the Bix, ...it goes on ..... May 19, 2006

A Great Overview Of These Years

A welcome addition in a lovely box with all the beauty of great sound,a 90 page book, a great disc of live material/broadcasts makes this a needed addition to any Basie lover..I also have the Columbia's Essential collections spanning 3 discs but this here is a needed bonus and is still not a substitute for those under rated discs put out earlier...Such a prolific man deserves royal treatment and does some justice to the earlier output..but obviously other reviewers will give you more detail as to songs selection and musicians I just wanted to add appreciation.. June 25, 2005

Seeking Intro to Swing? Start Here

This is a truly great package which you will find yourself listening to again and again. As others mentioned, the four discs here cover several of Basie's bands, so what you get is not simply 90 songs from a single band, which would get quite boring no matter how great any individual band was, but rather choice cuts from different bands of different size and composition over a twenty year period. The result is four discs each with their own distinct sound, each providing a different snapshot of the evolution of swing under Basie.

While historians might object, the arrangement of the songs is great too from the standpoint of a pure listening experience, with the first two discs being Basie's smaller groups, and the latter two being the larger Count Basie Orchestra. While the Orchestra is the most famous of these bands, and is outstanding in its own right, the best material here is from the small groups. The sound is less polished than it would become years later, but there's a raw energy to the Basie Octet that can't be matched.

The sound throughout the package is amazing. Full bass, minimal hiss, and not tinny. If only all music from this era could be remastered so well.

This is fun music, not the over-intellectualized jazz that sends people from the room. Well worth the investment if you want an overview of swing at its best. February 26, 2005

Stellar release

This is the best these sides have sounded ever, period. It is really a treat to hear the early Basie band with Lester Young in all its glory. The sound restoration on some of these tracks is just unbelievable, I had to check the linear notes to make sure these were the 1940 recordigs, because they sounded so different to the muddy/scratchy sound I grew used to. The linear notes alone are worth the price of this box set. And one full disc of most unreleased live tracks, many with Lester Young and Billie Holiday? You do the math. Many people, i am not included, are waiting for the full Columbia sessions remastered, but for me, this is what I have been waiting many years. The track secuence is annoying, I still cant understand why not doing it chronological, but its just a minor flaw. September 27, 2004

Great collection of classic jazz and swing

This is a swell 4-CD box set that covers all of Basie's studio work for the Columbia label, from 1936-51, working in a variety of configurations, from small combos to the full-on Basie Orchestra, including several songs with Basie backing up Billie Holiday, and plenty of other vocal tunes featuring Basie regulars Helen Humes and Jimmy Rushing. This collection also marks the first time Columbia has officially delved into the wealth of live transcription performances and radio broadcasts featuring the Basie band... This material was previously the sole province of various European collector labels; Sony shows it's able to do this material up right, with meticulous scholarship and great sound quality. Doubtless, many of the sniffier jazz scholars will find some reason or another to pooh-pooh this collection, but for us regular folks, it's mighty tasty. Recommended! September 14, 2004

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