The Original American Decca Recordings
Compilation album by
Count Basie
ReleasedMarch 17, 1992
RecordedJanuary 21, 1937 – February 4, 1939
GenreJazz, swing, big band
Length186:02
LabelGRP
3-6112

The Original American Decca Recordings (also released as The Complete Decca Recordings) is a 1992 compilation 3-CD set of sessions led by jazz bandleader Count Basie recorded for the Decca label between 1937 and 1939.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Penguin Guide to Jazz👑[3]

For Allmusic Scott Yanow wrote "This magnificent three-disc set has the first 63 recordings by Count Basie's Orchestra, all of his Deccas. The consistency is remarkable (with not more than two or three turkeys) and the music is the epitome of swing... This is the first Count Basie collection to acquire and should be in every jazz collection".[2]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz identified this set as part of their suggested "Core Collection" of essential jazz albums and awarded the compilation a "Crown" signifying a recording that the authors "feel a special admiration or affection for".[3][4]

Track listing

All compositions by Count Basie except where noted.

Disc one: 1937

  1. "Honeysuckle Rose" (Andy Razaf, Fats Waller) – 2:58
  2. "Pennies from Heaven" (Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke) – 3:00
  3. "Swinging at the Daisy Chain" – 2:48
  4. "Roseland Shuffle" – 2:32
  5. "Exactly Like You" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh) – 2:41
  6. "Boo Hoo" (Carmen Lombardo, Edward Heyman, John Jacob Loeb) – 2:25
  7. "The Glory of Love" (Billy Hill) – 2:29
  8. "Boogie Woogie (I May Be Wrong)" (Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing) – 2:49
  9. "Smarty (You Know It All)" (Burton Lane, Ralph Freed) – 2:40
  10. "One O'Clock Jump" – 3:00
  11. "Listen My Children and You Shall Hear" (Lane, Freed) – 3:05
  12. "John's Idea" – 2:53
  13. "Good Morning Blues" [1st Take] (Count Basie, Eddie Durham, Jimmy Rushing) – 3:12
  14. "Good Morning Blues" [2nd Take] (Basie, Durham, Rushing) – 3:03
  15. "Our Love Was Meant to Be" (Alex Hill, Fats Waller, Joe Davis) – 2:45
  16. "Time Out" (Durham) – 3:01
  17. "Topsy" (Durham) – 3:12
  18. "I Keep Remembering" (Charles Newman, Isham Jones) – 2:45
  19. "Out the Window" (Basie, Durham) – 3:08
  20. "Don't You Miss Your Baby" (Basie, Durham, Rushing) – 3:08
  21. "Let Me Dream" (Henry Jerome) – 3:09

Note

Disc two: 1938

  1. "Georgianna" (Austen Croom-Johnson, Frank Carle, Red McKenzie) – 2:33
  2. "Blues in the Dark" – 3:04
  3. "Sent for You" (Durham, Rushing) – 2:57
  4. "Every Tub" (Basie, Durham) – 3:14
  5. "Now Will You Be Good?" (Arthur Terker, Harry Jentes, Harry Pease) – 2:46
  6. "Swingin' the Blues" (Basie, Durham) – 2:45
  7. "Mama Don't Want No Peas 'n' Rice 'n' Coconut Oil" (L. Charles, L. Wolfe Gilbert) – 2:51
  8. "Blue and Sentimental" (Basie, Jerry Livingston, Mack David) – 3:10
  9. "Doggin' Around" (Edgar Battle, Herschel Evans) – 3:02
  10. "Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" [1st Take] (Bickley Reichner, Clay Boland) – 3:01
  11. "Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" [2nd Take] (Reichner, Boland) – 3:04
  12. "London Bridge Is Falling Down" (Abel Baer, Ira Schuster, Tot Seymour) 2:55
  13. "Texas Shuffle" (Evans) – 3:07
  14. "Jumpin' at the Woodside" – 3:08
  15. "How Long Blues" (Leroy Carr) – 2:55
  16. "The Dirty Dozen" (Rufus Perryman) – 3:01
  17. "Hey Lawdy Mama" (Cleve Reed) – 2:44
  18. "The Fives" (Hersal Thomas, George W. Thomas) – 2:45
  19. "Boogie Woogie" (Clarence Smith) – 3:01
  20. "Dark Rapture" (Benny Goodman, Edgar Sampson, Manny Kurtz) – 2:38
  21. "Shorty George" – 2:44
  22. "The Blues I Like to Hear" (Buster Smith, Rushing) – 3:07
  23. "Do You Wanna Jump, Children?" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Victor Selsman, Willie Bryant) – 2:39
  24. "Panassie Stomp" – 2:47

Note

Disc three: 1939

  1. "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" (Cole Porter) – 2:54
  2. "Sing for Your Supper" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 2:42
  3. "Oh! Red" (Kansas Joe McCoy) – 2:53
  4. "Fare Thee Honey, Fare Thee Well" [1st Take] (J. Mayo Williams, John Akers) – 3:04
  5. "Fare Thee Honey, Fare Thee Well" [2nd Take] (Williams, Akers) – 3:02
  6. "Dupree Blues" (George White, Woody Herman) – 3:04
  7. "When the Sun Goes Down" [1st Take] (Carr) – 2:45
  8. "When the Sun Goes Down" [2nd Take] (Carr) – 2:54
  9. "Red Wagon" (Richard M. Jones) – 2:52
  10. "You Can Depend On Me" (Charlie Carpenter, Earl Hines, Louis Dunlap) – 3:07
  11. "Cherokee, Part 1" (Ray Noble) – 3:10
  12. "Cherokee, Part 2" (Noble) – 3:03
  13. "Blame It on My Last Affair" [1st Take] (Henry Nemo, Irving Mills) – 2:43
  14. "Blame It on My Last Affair" [2nd Take] (Nemo, Mills) – 2:42
  15. "Jive at Five" (Harry Edison) – 2:49
  16. "Thursday" (Dorothy Sachs, Irvin Graham, Louis Haber) – 3:04
  17. "Evil Blues" (Basie, Edison, Rushing) – 3:13
  18. "Oh, Lady Be Good!" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 3:10

Note

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Count Basie discography, accessed February 24, 2014
  2. ^ a b Yanow, S., Allmusic Review, accessed February 24, 2014
  3. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008) [1992]. "Count Basie". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  4. ^ Penguin Guide to Jazz: Crown Albums List, accessed February 24, 2014
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