Count Basie in Stockholm with Louis Bellson, 1962

In 1962, drummer Sonny Payne was involved in a car accident and had to bow out of the Count Basie orchestra's impending tour of Sweden, forcing the Count to find a suitable replacement quickly. And a suitable bench man he did find when he hired the great Louis Bellson for the tour, which took the band all over Sweden, playing mostly in small towns but also in bigger cities like Gothenburg, Malmö, and of course, Stockholm. In the Swedish capital, Basie and his crew played a five-night engagement at Gröna Lunds Tivoli, which included both a nightly concert and a session strictly for dancers. Someone at Roulette Records had the good presence of mind to tape some of the music played at these sessions for dancers, and some of these tracks appeared on Basie in Sweden, which turned out to be Basie's final LP for the label—and a very enjoyable one at that.

Drummer Louis Bellson

At these more informal sessions, the band sounds extremely relaxed, inspired to take exciting solos, and properly propelled by Bellson's high-octane drumming. Though perhaps not quite as explosive as Payne, Bellson has a very personal flair for swinging, and his drumming always sounds classy and elegant. This later edition of the Atomic Basie band features a lineup full of legendary sidemen, among them reedmen Frank Wess and Frank Foster, trumpeters Thad Jones and Benny Bailey, trombonists Benny Powell and Ake Persson, and guitarist Freddie Green. As one would expect, there's plenty of swing to go around, from the album opener, "Little Pony," to its closer, "Peace Pipe," and many others in between ("Corner Pocket," "Splanky," "Four, Five Six"). It's almost a cliche now to describe the Basie outfit as a well-oiled swinging machine, and these recordings provide ample proof that there's a lot of truth behind that cliche. But the band can also take it easy whenever necessary, as on the rather subdued reading of Neal Hefti's "Plymouth Rock" or on the standard "April in Paris," the latter with some fine contributions by Thad Jones. Duke Ellington's "In a Mellotone" is another highlight of a live album full of highlights, and Basie even has room to spotlight vocalist Irene Reid's bluesy tribute to Bessie Smith on "Backwater Blues." The 1991 CD reissue, which has some very informative liner notes by Basie bio-discographer Chris Sheridan, includes four previously unreleased tracks, but the music is so good that it still leaves you hungry for more from this unique teaming of Basie and Bellson.

Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie, July 1963

My friend and colleague, Dan Nappo, recently drove up to St. Louis and surprised me by bringing me back a copy of Ella and Basie!, a superb album that I heard quite a bit growing up but that, for some strange reason, never became a part of my jazz collection—until now. Dan's thoughtful gift has given me the chance to listen to it once again all these years later, which made me realize what a fantastic record it is, undoubtedly one of the high points in the long careers of both Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie. The high-powered pairing of the vocal jazz diva and the perfectly oiled swing machine commanded by Basie was caught on tape by Verve Records owner, Norman Granz, over two sessions held in July 1963, and at that time, the band featured such outstanding musicians as trumpeter Joe Newman, trombonists Urbie Green and Benny Powell, reedmen Frank Foster and Frank Wess, drummer Sonny Payne, and trusty guitarist Freddie Green. As if that weren't enough, Quincy Jones was at the helm and provided all the charts, and from the outset, it became clear that the emphasis would be on solid swing rather than slow numbers. As a matter of fact, even the few ballads we find among the 12 selections on the original LP have a certain sexy bounce to them—"My Last Affair" is a good example of this—and on one, "Dream a Little Dream of Me," Basie contributes to the dreamy atmosphere by switching to organ.

Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie.

But we mustn't forget that this is a meeting between two giants of rhythm, and so the repertoire has been chosen accordingly. Ella had introduced "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" when she cut it for Decca with the Ink Spots in the mid 1940s, but this version with the Basie band is the polar opposite of the earlier recording, allowing Ella to swing freely, as she does on many other tracks, like "Tea for Two," "I'm Beginning to See the Light," and "Ain't Misbehavin'." Quincy Jones understood the Basie outfit perfectly, so his arrangements spotlight the amazing musicianship of the orchestra as a whole, and some of the numbers become vehicles for Ella's exciting scatting. That is the case of "Honeysuckle Rose," "Them There Eyes," and "Satin Doll," on which Ella's scatted contributions turn her into yet another soloist within the band. Both Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll" and Frank Foster's "Shiny Stockings" find Ella swinging at her most elegant and sophisticated, and "On the Sunny Side of the Street," with Ella's playful handling of the Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields tune, is a fitting finale for a marvelous album. The 1997 digipack CD reissue includes several takes of "My Last Affair" and "Robbins' Nest" (the latter not used on the album) which provide some insight into the recording process. Ella and Basie would meet again a number of times in subsequent years, but this first encounter remains the most satisfying.