| "The Count Basie Orchestra recently played
the annual Jazz in June series at Ravinia Park near Chicago, and anyone
familiar with the long life of the Basie band would have to admit that
it hasn't sounded this crackling good in a long time. . .
Butch Miles was grinning from the drum chair. . . Grover Mitchell . . . navigating a course correction in which he is determined to steer the band back to basics. . . We have charts by Thad Jones, Frank Foster, Quincy Jones, Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkens, who I think was the best of them all. . . To say that a given object of jazz -- a player, a band, an arrangement is stuck in some time |
warp is, I suppose just
about the worst curse a critic an inflict these days. Well, here's one
critic who is here to tell you that stuck is good. . . The decisive test
of truth in any artist can be gauged in one simple question: does he belong
somewhere or does he not? So, to say that the Count Basie band of this
collection is stuck in a '50s sound, as some may whine, is rather like
accusing Michelangelo of being stuck in the Renaissance." John Mcdonough,
Down Beat, Wall Street Journal MIDI |
Grover Mitchell,
Conductor
TRUMPETS:
TROMBONES: David Keim,
REED: Doug Miller, ts, John Williams, bs, Kenny Hing ts, Jackie Kelson as, Brad Leali, as PIANO: Terence Conley BASS: James Leary GUITAR: Will Matthews FRANK WESS, soloist
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