''Basie in London'' is a 1956 live album by

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, recorded (despite the inaccurate album title) in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Track listing

# "

Jumpin' at the Woodside "Jumpin' at the Woodside" is a song first recorded in 1938 by the Count Basie Orchestra, and considered one of the band's signature tunes. When first released it reached number 11 on the ''Billboard'' charts and remained on them for four weeks. ...

" (

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

) – 3:38 # "Shiny Stockings" ( Frank Foster) – 5:19 # "

How High the Moon "How High the Moon" is a jazz standard with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton and music by Morgan Lewis. It was first featured in the 1940 Broadway revue '' Two for the Show'', where it was sung by Alfred Drake and Frances Comstock. In ''Two for the S ...

" (Nancy Hamilton, Morgan Lewis) – 3:37 # "Nails" ( Buster Harding) – 6:24 # "Flute Juice" (

Ernie Wilkins Ernest Brooks Wilkins Jr. (July 20, 1922 – June 5, 1999) was an American jazz saxophonist, conductor and arranger who spent several years with Count Basie. He also wrote for Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Dizzy Gillespie. He was musical direc ...

) – 3:09 # "

One O'Clock Jump "One O'Clock Jump" is a jazz standard, a 12-bar blues instrumental, written by Count Basie in 1937. Background The melody derived from band members' riffs—Basie rarely wrote down musical ideas, so Eddie Durham and Buster Smith helped him cry ...

" (Basie,

Eddie Durham Edward Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie ...

) – 1:39 # "

Alright, Okay, You Win “Alright, Okay, You Win” is a List of jazz standards, jazz standard written by Sid Wyche (music) and Mayme Watts (lyrics). It was first recorded in 1955 by several artists including Ella Johnson, The Modernaires, Bill Farrell (singer), Bill Fa ...

" (Mayme Watts, Sidney Wyche) – 2:50 # "Roll 'Em Pete" ( Pete Johnson, Big Joe Turner) – 2:32 # "The Comeback" (Charles Frazier) – 4:08 # "Blues Backstage" (Foster) – 4:27 # "Corner Pocket" (

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 ...

, Donald Wolf) – 4:45 # "Blee Blop Blues" (

A. K. Salim Ahmad Khatab Salim or Ahmad Kharab Salim (born Albert Atkinson on July 28, 1922) was an American jazz composer, and arranger. Biography Salim attended DuSable High School with Bennie Green, Dorothy Donegan and Gene Ammons and played alto saxop ...

) – 2:26 # " Yesterdays" (

Otto Harbach Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach (August 18, 1873 – January 24, 1963) was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading B ...

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

) – 3:16 (bonus track on CD reissue) # "Untitled" – 5:11 (bonus track on CD reissue) # "Sixteen Men Swinging" (Wilkins) – 2:48 (bonus track on CD reissue) # "Plymouth Rock" (

Neal Hefti Neal Paul Hefti (October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He wrote music for '' The Odd Couple'' movie and TV series and for the ''Batman'' TV series. He began arranging professionally in his ...

) – 6:11 (bonus track on CD reissue)

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 ...

;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 ...

: * Frank Foster - reeds * Charlie Fowlkes - reeds * Bill Graham - reeds * Marshal Royal - reeds * Frank Wess - reeds *

Henry Coker Henry Coker (December 24, 1919 – November 23, 1979) was an American jazz trombonist. Biography Coker was born in Dallas, Texas, United States. He made his professional debut with John White in 1935. From 1937 to 1939 he played with Nat Towles' ...

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 ...

* Matthew Gee -

* Benny Powell -

* Wendell Culley -

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 ...

* Reunald Jones -

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Biography Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, U ...

* Joe Newman -

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 ...

* Eddie Jones - bass * Sonny Payne - drums * Joe Williams -

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 ...

Additional Information

The album was recorded live in Gothenburg, Sweden on 7 September 1956 during a tour that did not involve any UK dates due to the ongoing AFM/MU dispute; it was released to capitalise on the extensive string of UK tour dates during the Spring of 1957. It also helped the Basie Band to catch up in Britain, preparing the ground for the forthcoming 'Atomic' recordings. The ''Basie Was Here'' EP (SEB10083) featuring part of the same cover shot was released for the same purpose, as had been the ''Basie's Back in Town'' EP (SEB10070). The latters sleeve note name checks the April 1957 British dates despite none of these tunes being from the tour. The cover shot was taken outside the Lambeth Walk Public House, an Ind Coope pub in Lambeth Road, South London. The photograph itself was taken after a matinee concert at the Royal Festival Hall while the band were waiting for their evening gig at the Ritz Hotel in the evening, on April 13, 1957. The couple arm in arm with Basie on the LP sleeve, according to Al Ryan of BBC Radio 3 Jazz Now, were David and Janet Woodhead. Janet was a great pub pianist and played in the Lambeth Walk pub (on the piano featured on the back of the LP). The Lambeth Walk ceased trading as a pub in 2010, though the building is still there at 17 Lambeth Road.

References

{{Authority control 1956 live albums Count Basie Orchestra live albums Verve Records live albums