CD-Charts Position 1
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Four Classic Albums (April In Paris/King Of Swing/Atomic Mr Basie/The Greatest! - Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards)

by: Count Basie

Release Date June 30, 2008
At a time when the price of petrol, energy and food seem to be totally out of control, it's good to find great music at a bargain price. At budget price, this two-disc compilation of Basie's best selects four celebrated albums, with APRIL IN PARIS (1956) not only honing in on that classic song but grabbing SHINY STOCKINGS amongst its ten tracks. KING OF SWING (1954) grabs no less than five Neal Hefti compositions like CHERRY POINT, BUBBLES and YOU FOR ME in order to feature the efforts of the best soloists, with the album's ultimate success immediately pointing the way forward for Basie's ongoing style. THE ATOMIC MR. BASIE released in 1957 utilises the mono version for both technical and artistic reasons and THE KID FROM RED BANK, SPANKY and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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The Complete Atomic Basie

by: Count Basie Orchestra

Release Date February 28, 1994
A great band and the well balanced mono sound is superb, as you would expect of Basie at his prime. Better than the original discs, my wife even likes this big band sound! (as does the parrot!) Much of it has unfamiliar titles but very familiar tunes, the Basie we hear all the time on the radio of course! A class act but then all the bands that survived to the late 50's and beyond had that in common (compare with Kenton at the Tropicana, the Herman 1963 Philips disc etc). Buy it!

CD-Charts Position 3
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Sinatra At The Sands

by: Frank Sinatra, Count Basie & The Orchestra

Release Date February 13, 1998
This album is one of the best if not the best live albums I own. The show has superb reviews already and that goes without saying. I give it five stars not only for the performance but also the recording. If you turn it up loud and shut your eyes you can imagine the "Sands" with the slight crowd noise and odd "chinking" of the glasses in the audience and really feel and almost see that you are right in the middle of the auditorium with this fantastic band in front of you along with the worlds greatest singer - it's that good!

CD-Charts Position 4
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One O'clock Jump: Original Recordings 1936-1939

by: Count Basie

Release Date February 03, 2003
This album is one of the best if not the best live albums I own. The show has superb reviews already and that goes without saying. I give it five stars not only for the performance but also the recording. If you turn it up loud and shut your eyes you can imagine the "Sands" with the slight crowd noise and odd "chinking" of the glasses in the audience and really feel and almost see that you are right in the middle of the auditorium with this fantastic band in front of you along with the worlds greatest singer - it's that good!

CD-Charts Position 5
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Count Basie Swings - Joe Williams Sings

by: Count Basie

Release Date October 05, 2000
This album is one of the best if not the best live albums I own. The show has superb reviews already and that goes without saying. I give it five stars not only for the performance but also the recording. If you turn it up loud and shut your eyes you can imagine the "Sands" with the slight crowd noise and odd "chinking" of the glasses in the audience and really feel and almost see that you are right in the middle of the auditorium with this fantastic band in front of you along with the worlds greatest singer - it's that good!

CD-Charts Position 6
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Basie & Zoot

by: Count Basie/Zoot Sims

Release Date November 15, 2006
This album is one of the best if not the best live albums I own. The show has superb reviews already and that goes without saying. I give it five stars not only for the performance but also the recording. If you turn it up loud and shut your eyes you can imagine the "Sands" with the slight crowd noise and odd "chinking" of the glasses in the audience and really feel and almost see that you are right in the middle of the auditorium with this fantastic band in front of you along with the worlds greatest singer - it's that good!

CD-Charts Position 7
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At Newport

by: Count Basie

Release Date September 17, 2007
This is one of the best swing albums in my (quite extensive) collection...
The reunion of Basie band with Lester Young, Jimmy Rushing and Jo Jones is beyond words and the final jam (with Roy Eldridge and Illinois Jacquet as adittional attraction...) is... wow!

CD-Charts Position 8
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Count Basie - the Collection: Remastered

by: Count Basie

Release Date October 11, 2004
This is one of the best swing albums in my (quite extensive) collection...
The reunion of Basie band with Lester Young, Jimmy Rushing and Jo Jones is beyond words and the final jam (with Roy Eldridge and Illinois Jacquet as adittional attraction...) is... wow!

CD-Charts Position 9
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Ray Sings, Basie Swings

by: Ray Charles, The Count Basie Orchestra

Release Date October 16, 2006
Count Basie never backed Ray Charles-though he could easily have done as his band was used to back Jackie Wilson on a couple of early 60s hits.
There can't be anything wrong with this sort of thing-it carries on a couple of legendary names further

CD-Charts Position 10
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The Complete Decca Recordings

by: Count Basie

Release Date December 23, 1999
Count Basie never backed Ray Charles-though he could easily have done as his band was used to back Jackie Wilson on a couple of early 60s hits.
There can't be anything wrong with this sort of thing-it carries on a couple of legendary names further