Paris Jazz Concert 1972 (1998)

About this title: This first volume of a 1972 Paris concert by Count Basie & His Orchestra has a diverse program full of enjoyable moments. "Whirly Bird," a contribution by Neal Hefti, is one of the big crowd pleasers of the evening. Basie himself was never one to hog the spotlight, but is featured at some length with his rhythm section in "I Needs to Be Bee'd With." "The Meeting" is a lively gospel-flavored number -- inexplicably credited to Basie, it was written by Oliver Nelson over a decade prior to this concert -- that has an uncredited but blazing Eric Dolphy-like alto sax solo and a fiery trumpet solo ... read more

Tracks:

1. Basie Power [Wilkins]
2. Big Stuff [Neuman]
3. Fun Time [Nestico]
4. Meeting Basie [Nelson]
5. The Python
6. Yellow Days [Carrillo/Bernstein]
7. From This Moment On [Porter]
8. It Could Happen to You [VanHeusen/Burke]
9. The Spirit Is Willing [Nestico]
10. Cherry Point [Hefti]
11. Lover [Rodgers/Hart]
12. I Needs to Be Bee'd With [Jones]
13. Meditation [Gimbel/Jobim/Mendon]
14. Whirlybird [Hefti]
15. Clean Head Blues [Vinson]
16. Cherry Red [Turner/Johnson]
17. Person to Person [Vinson]
18. Hold It Right Here [Vinson]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.