it might as well be swing

Frank Sinatra and Count Basie teamed up with Quincy Jones for this stringed swing sequel.   The Chairman of the Board brought back the Count after the success of their first collaboration 'Sinatra-Basie' with arranger Neal Hefti.  This time around Frank and Splank worked with Quincy Jones, who conducted the The Count Basie Orchestra featuring  Count Basie on piano;    Al Porcino, Don Rader, Wallace Davenport, Al Aarons, George Cohn, and Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpets;    Henry Coker, Grover Mitchell, Bill Hughes, Henderson Chambers, and Kenny Shroyer on trombones;    Frank Foster, Charles Fowlkes, Marshall Royal, Frank Wess, and Eric Dixon on reeds;    Emil Richards on vibraphone;    George Catlett on double bass;    Freddie Green on guitar;    Sonny Payne on drums;   Gerald Vinci, Israel Baker, Jacques Gasselin, Thelma Beach, Bonnie Douglas, Marshall Sosson, Erno Neufeld, Lou Raderman, Paul Shure, and James Getzoff on violins;    Virginia Majewski, Paul Robyn, Alvin Dinkin, and Stan Harris on violas;    and Edgar Lustgarten and Ann Goodman on cellos.   The sessions were produced by Sonny Burke and engineered by Lowell Frank for Sinatra's own Reprise Records.  

The big band swing sound is tops.  The singer is tops.  The producer is tops.  This triple threat of musical giants do not disappoint.  Just try and sit still.  'It Might As Well Be Swing'!






www.sinatra.com


www.thecountbasieorchestra.com













'Fly Me To The Moon'


Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On a Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby , kiss me

Fill my heart with song
and let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

Fill my heart with song
Let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

In other words, I love you.




'It Might As Well Be Swing'
full album:




"Fly Me to the Moon" (Bart Howard) – 2:30
"I Wish You Love" (Léo Chauliac, Charles Trenet, Albert Beach) – 2:56
"I Believe in You" (Frank Loesser) – 2:21
"More (Theme from Mondo Cane)" (Riz Ortolani, Nino Oliviero, Marcello Ciorciolini, Norman Newell) – 3:05
"I Can't Stop Loving You" (Don Gibson) – 3:00
"Hello, Dolly!" (Jerry Herman) – 2:45
"I Wanna Be Around" (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstedt) – 2:25
"The Best is Yet to Come" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 3:10
"The Good Life" (Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon) – 2:30
"Wives and Lovers" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:50




“Stan Cornyn: What distinguishes writing for Sinatra? 
Quincy Jones: To begin with, he is so personal a singer. Nobody can imitate him. Sammy Davis, Jr. is one of his closest  friends and yet Frank is the one imitation Sammy really can’t do. He can do the mannerisms, but he cannot imitate that sound. Secondly, Frank is unusually sensitive. He is so flexible musically that he fits easily into every situation. And when he has an idea he wants to incorporate, he is able to immediately absorb the whole musical context surrounding that idea”. 

(A conversation with Mr. Jones, 1964. Notes innersleeve) 

blues by basie

Count Basie and His All American Rhythm Section recorded this swing blues jam in one session less than a week before a musicians' strike.  'Blues By Basie' features an intimate sextet made up of members of his orchestra.  For all eight sides, Basie played piano with the legendary rhythm section of  'Papa' Jo Jones on drums, Freddie Green on guitar, and Walter Page on bass.  Buck Clayton sat in on trumpet with Don Byas on tenor sax for half of the tracks cut for Colombia Records in Los Angeles on July 24, 1942.

American Federation of Musicians' president James Petrillo had called the strike to address the fact that record companies were not paying royalties to musicians.  The musicians' union strike began on August 1 and no union musician could record for any recording company until it was over more than twenty-seven months later when holdouts RCA/Victor and Colombia finally caved on November 11, 1944.    'Blues By Basie' was not released until May of 1944, consisting of four 10" 78 rpm records.

Freddie Green would consider:  "I think it is the type of rhythm you play that has a lot to do with swing. And it is the rhythm section that determines most whether a band swings...Sometimes we get to a point where we're so tired, but we get up there and swing like mad. Another time, you can have had an awful lot of rest, and you don't swing at all...It depends on how everybody feels. I can't put my finger on any special thing that determines the possibility or the extent of swing. It just happens. Sometimes it gets off the ground and sometimes it doesn't. The audience has a lot to do with it, too...The rhythm section is the foundation of it all. If the rhythm section isn't swinging, then you can forget about it. If it isn't clicking, moving together...Well, I mean, the rest of the band has to rely upon it."

Basie would admit:  “You may think you’re the boss, but the drummer is really the head man. When he isn't feeling right, nothing is going to sound good...We still keep a beat in the back line, relaxed and solid behind the horns.  So it doesn't matter what they do up front; the audience gets the beat ... Of course, there are a lot of ways you can treat the blues, but it will still be the blues ...  I just think swing is a matter of some good things put together that you can really pat your foot by. I can't define it beyond that."








www.basieband.org


www.thecountbasieorchestra.com




http://www.last.fm/music/Count+Basie/Blues+By+Basie

http://www.last.fm/music/Count+Basie+&+His+Orchestra/Blues+By+Basie




Sugar Blues 
(L. Fletcher, C. Williams)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijfv_Qag5nk



Bugle Blues 
(Basie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIlVuHtdf58




Royal Garden Blues 
(S. Williams, C. Williams)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzy4FWb9ClA




How Long Blues 
(Carr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1v-q9POp8A




St. Louis Blues 
(Handy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_BHKDeUjs




Farewell Blues 
(Schoebel, Mares, Rappolo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qELQ023f3SU




Way Back Blues 
(Basie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usZWrjubhSk




Cafe Society Blues 
(Basie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRPBOXZAeZo

pennies from heaven

This standard found a silver lining in the dark grey cloud of the Great Depression. The songwriting team of Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston composed ‘Pennies from Heaven’ in 1936. Johnson wrote the music and Burke did the lyrics. The song gave the title to two movies and has been featured in several other films. It has been recorded by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Dinah Washington, Clark Terry, Frances Langford, Arthur Tracy, Big Joe Turner, Dean Martin, The Skyliners, and many others.








Bing Crosby introduced the song in the film ‘Pennies From Heaven’, for which it received an Academy Award nomination. His version with with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra spent ten weeks at the top of the charts.


That same year Billie Holiday recorded a version with Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra. Their version peaked at number three.



Louis Prima


Stan Getz with the Oscar Peterson Trio




Frank Sinatra and Count Basie





A long time ago
A million years BC
The best things in life
Were absolutely free.
But no one appreciated
A sky that was always blue.
And no one congratulated
A moon that was always new.
So it was planned that they would vanish now and them
And you must pay before you get them back again.
That's what storms were made for
And you shouldn't be afraid for
Every time it rains it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven.
You'll find your fortune falling
All over town.
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down.
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers.
If you want the things you love
You must have showers.
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree.
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me