''A Classy Pair'' is a 1979 studio album by the American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

singer

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

, accompanied by the

Count Basie Orchestra The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 195 ...

, with arrangements by

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

. This was Fitzgerald and Basie's second studio recording after '' Ella and Basie!'' (1963), and features re-recordings of two songs from the earlier album, " Honeysuckle Rose" and " Ain't Misbehavin' ". The two musicians worked together much more frequently during her

Pablo Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul. People *Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer * Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer * Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist * Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer * Pablo Br ...

years than they had during her years on the Verve label, and this album marked the end of a connection that had begun in 1957.

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

review by Scott Yanow awarded the album three stars and said that "Basie's sidemen are unfortunately restricted in the Benny Carter arrangements to backup work but Basie has a few piano solos and Fitzgerald is in good voice and in typically swinging form".

Track listing

CD Edition

Some CD editions not only altered the order of the tracklist, also included two tracks without credited them: 5 and 11. Times listed on booklets and backcovers are also usually wrong.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* The

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* Ray Brown –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Sonny Cohn George Thomas Cohn (March 14, 1925 – November 7, 2006), known professionally as Sonny Cohn, was an American jazz trumpeter whose career spanned over six decades. After working for fifteen years with Red Saunders (1945–1960), Cohn went on ...

– trumpet * Pete Minger – trumpet * Nolan Andrew Smith – trumpet * Bill Hughes –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

* Mel Wanzo – trombone *

Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...

– trombone * Mitchell "Booty" Wood – trombone *

Bobby Plater Robert C. Plater (May 13, 1914, Newark, New Jersey - November 20, 1982, Lake Tahoe) was an American jazz alto saxophonist. Plater began playing alto sax at age 12, and played locally in Newark with Donald Lambert and the Savoy Dictators in th ...

– alto saxophone * Danny Turner – alto saxophone *

Eric Dixon Eric "Big Daddy" Dixon (March 28, 1930 – October 19, 1989) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, flautist, composer, and arranger. Dixon's professional career extended from 1950 until his death in 1989, during which time he was credited ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

* Kenny Hing – tenor saxophone * Charlie Fowlkes – baritone saxophone *

Freddie Green Frederick William Green (March 31, 1911 – March 1, 1987) was an American swing jazz guitarist who played rhythm guitar with the Count Basie Orchestra for almost fifty years. Early life and education Green was born in Charleston, South Car ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

John Clayton John Clayton may refer to: Arts and entertainment Writing *John Clayton (architect) (died 1861), English architect and writer *John Bell Clayton and Martha Clayton, John Bell Clayton (c. 1907–1955), American writer *John Clayton (sportswriter) ( ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

* Butch Miles – drums *

– arranger, conductor

Credits

* Produced by

Norman Granz Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impres ...

* Mastered by Eric Miller and

Greg Fulginiti Gregory Fulginiti (born February 13, 1951 in Cape May Court House section of Middle Township, New Jersey) is an American recording and mastering engineer. Fulginiti grew up in Wildwood, New Jersey and graduated from Wildwood High School in 1969 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Classy Pair, A 1979 albums Count Basie Orchestra albums Ella Fitzgerald albums Pablo Records albums Albums arranged by Benny Carter Albums produced by Norman Granz