''Basie Straight Ahead'' is an album recorded at

TTG Studios TTG Studios was a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, co-founded in 1965 by recording engineers Tom Hidley and Amnon "Ami" Hadani. History The studio was located at 1441 North McCadden Place in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, n ...

, Hollywood, California in October 1968 featuring

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 ...

and his orchestra. This album marked the first collaboration between Basie and his long-time orchestrator,

Sammy Nestico Samuel Louis Nistico (February 6, 1924 – January 17, 2021), better known as Sammy Nestico, was an American composer and arranger. Nestico is best known for his arrangements for the Count Basie orchestra. Early life and education Samuel Luigi ...

, who composed, arranged and conducted all of the songs on the record. The engineers were Ami Hadani and Thorne Nogar, and the producers were Tom Mack and Teddy Reig. The disc was issued in 1968 on Dot label and on English

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

Track listing

_{All tracks by Sammy Nestico

Samuel Louis Nistico (February 6, 1924 – January 17, 2021), better known as Sammy Nestico, was an American composer and arranger. Nestico is best known for his arrangements for the Count Basie orchestra.
Early life and education
Samuel Luigi ...} # "Basie - Straight Ahead" – 3:56 # "It's Oh, So Nice" – 4:10 # "Lonely Street" – 2:53 # "Fun Time" – 3:52 # "Magic Flea" – 3:09 # "Switch In Time" – 3:58 # "Hay Burner" – 4:16 # "That Warm Feeling" – 3:33 # "The Queen Bee" – 4:13

Personnel

–

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 ...

, organ *

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 ...

, Gene Coe, Oscar Brashear,

Al Aarons Albert Aarons (March 23, 1932 – November 17, 2015) was an American jazz trumpeter. Biography Aarons was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit. He began to gain attention as a trumpet player in 1 ...

–

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 ...

Grover Mitchell Grover Mitchell, born Grover Curry Mitchell (March 17, 1930 – August 6, 2003) was an American jazz trombonist who led the Count Basie Orchestra. Biography Mitchell was born in Whately, Alabama, but he moved with his parents to Pittsburgh, Pen ...

Richard Boone Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series '' Have Gun – Will Travel''. Early li ...

, Bill Hughes, Steve Galloway –

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 ...

* Marshal Royal – alto saxophone *

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, flute *

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Edward F. Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. It is unclear how he acquired the moniker "Lockjaw" (later shortened in "Jaws"): it is either said that ...

–

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 ...

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, flute * 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 ...

* Norman Keenan –

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 ...

* Harold Jones – drums *

– piano (on "That Warm Feeling")

References

{{Authority control 1968 albums Count Basie Orchestra albums Dot Records albums Albums arranged by Sammy Nestico Albums conducted by Sammy Nestico Albums produced by Teddy Reig