Search - Count Basie :: Count Basie - Greatest Hits

Uneven set from 1947

Maria-Rosa de Hacia | 01/27/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The title is a severe misnomer. How can any recording purport to be an artist's "greatest hits" when it only covers material from a short fragment (1947-50) of his career?Having said that, however, the disc is not a total waste of time. It mostly features the vocals of Jimmy Rushing, who wails away plaintively on tracks such as "Brand New Wagon", "If You See My Baby" and "Hey, Pretty Baby", which are entertaining. My favorite is "After You've Gone", mostly for the fabulous horn break in the middle. That is the type of arrangement Basie is noted for (and we'd see much more of that later in the 1950's), but there's just too little of it here.An OK outing, but not worth your time if you want a well-rounded Count Basie set."

Good representation of brief RCA-Victor period

P. Ferguson | Los Angeles | 10/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This isn't recommended as an introduction to or sampler for Count Basie (if you're looking for that, Decca's "Complete Recordings" or "Definitive Recordings" are good bets). It is, however, recommended as a good distillation of the period of 1947-1950 when Basie recorded for RCA. If you've already got his Decca and Columbia periods covered, this is a pretty good place to go from there."