# CD review: The Count Basie Orchestra – Basie Swings The Blues – 2023: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/10/20/cd-review-the-count-basie-orchestra-basie-swings-the-blues-2023-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2023-10-20T00:04:48+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Basie Swings The Blues brings together an extraordinary lineup of musical talents,
including George Benson, Shemekia Copeland, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Bettye LaVette,
Ledisi, Keb Mo, Charlie Musselwhite, Bobby Rush, and more. Produced by Scotty Barnhart,
John Burk, and Steve Jordan, this album pays homage to the classic Basie Swings 
albums while introducing the Count Basie Orchestra to the realm of blues.**

The Count Basie Orchestra, led by musical director Scotty Barnhart, continues the
legacy of influential pianist, composer, and bandleader Count Basie with their energetic
performances rooted in the swing jazz tradition. In Basie Swings The Blues, the 
orchestra explores the deep connections between the two genres. Barnhart’s journey
to Mississippi inspired the album’s deeply moving mix of various blues styles and
Basie’s irresistible signature swing.

The album includes classic tracks like “Stormy Monday” and “I’m A Woman,” as well
as original compositions like “Let’s Have A Good Time” and “The Patton Basie Shuffle.”
It is a supremely addictive set of timelessly crafted songs with lush arrangements
and stellar performances through the album.
 Claudia Taylor, World Music Central

Basie Swings The Blues is the realization of Scotty Barnhart’s quest that started
in 2019. Barnhart, a two-time Grammy award winning trumpeter, has been a featured
soloist for the Count Basie Orchestra for 30 years and its orchestra director for
the last decade. Founding Father, William ‘Count’ Basie came up during the vaudeville
and big band era of the 20s, 3’s and 40s. He became the master of the big-band style
of swing and the first African American male to win a Grammy in 1958. His Count 
Basie Orchestra established swing as the dominant music style of the day and had
several hits through that time. Known for its soloists, rhythm section and layering
jazz with blues into their signature brand of swing, by the 60s and 70s they were
collaborating with preeminent artists of the time like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra,
Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie, and Oscar Peterson. Basie and his
band would collect a total of nine Grammys over his lifetime.

As Barnhart discloses in the album’s producer notes, he was giving a thank you speech
to The Blues Foundation for inducting Count Basie into their Blues Hall of Fame.“
This recording is a result of an idea that came to me that night as I sat next to
blues legend Bobby Rush”. “I knew The Count Basie Orchestra’s next recording should
be one that had at its root, the sound of the Delta Blues”. “The Count Basie Orchestra
is a blues-based orchestra and everything that it has ever played or will ever play
has that particular inflection in it. It’s a blues that makes you want to dance,
snap your fingers, tap your toes, and feel good. Mr. Basie said, “our blues will
make your blues go away”.”

Bringing this idea to life within the context of the Orchestra was a concept Scotty
had for a sound that didn’t materialize until a random event that occurred in March
of 2020. As Covid shutdowns hit full force a makeshift version of the band went 
forward with a commitment to play at a wedding reception. After the formal dances,
the groom approached the band to sit in with them on his guitar. Scotty cautiously
accepted. “I called the key of G to the guys and counted off a medium tempo blues
and what happened over the next few minutes was one of the most incredible things
I had ever heard in my life. The groom played the living heck out of the blues on
his guitar and sounded like all of the great blues guitarists rolled into one. With
the saxes, trombones, and trumpets improvising riffs behind him, that was the moment
when I finally heard what our recording should sound like. It was electrifying!”

Artists have performed with symphony orchestras in the past. Basie Swings The Blues
is a completely different beast with a big-band jazz foundation, framed with swing,
and topped off with a blues emphasis. Intrigued yet? If not, check out the artists
lending their talents to this first of its kind release: Buddy Guy, Bobby Rush, 
Keb’ Mo’, Robert Cray, George Benson, Shemekia Copeland, Ledisi, Castro “Mr. Sipp”
Coleman, Lauren Mitchell, Bettye LaVette, and Charlie Musselwhite.

This would certainly be an amazing lineup in any festival setting! Mr. Sipp starts
the album off on the opening track “Let’s Have a Good Time” which he composed and
accentuates with his vocals and classic blues guitar work. It’s a lively track that’s
true to its title. Sipp also appears later in the album on “Dirty Mississippi Blues”.
At 89, elder statesman Bobby Rush was born the year Basie turned 30. Rush’s signature
vocals and harmonica keep the toes tapping on the 2nd track “Boogie in the Dark”.

Shemekia Copeland, Buddy Guy, and Charlie Musselwhite collaborate on an amazing 
version of “I’m A Woman” by Koko Taylor. This award-winning trio powers this first
single released from the album and arguably its best piece. We’re slowly getting
our hips loose as we move into “Down Home Blues” featuring a Lauren Mitchell duet
with bluesman Keb’ Mo’. The pace picks up next with the instrumental and Barnhart
composition, “The Patton Basie” led by former Basie Orchestra member and guitar 
master Charlton Johnson. Another alumnus, Carmen Bradford brings her jazz vocal 
mastery to “Just For A Thrill”.

T-Bone Walker’s classic “Stormy Monday” swings the listening experience onward with
a memorable adaptation by Betty LaVette. Blues Hall of Fame inductee and five-time
Grammy winner, Robert Cray is fantastic on “The Midnight Hour,” originally recorded
by Ray Charles in 1952. It is well followed by Jazz and R&B vocalist Ledisi’s “Evil
Gal Blues”.

The album closes with another lively instrumental “Rock Candy” delivered flawlessly
by the renowned George Benson. Throughout Basie Swings The Blues the Count Basie
Orchestra flows the album together with both mood-altering rhythms and horn exclamation
points. Full disclosure. Basie Swings The Blues is not a blues rock album. What 
it is; is something extraordinary, classic, and yet unique.

1. Let’s Have a Good Time – Featuring Mr. Sipp
 2. Boogie in the Dark – Featuring
Bobby Rush 3. I’m a Woman – Featuring Buddy Guy, Shemekia Copeland, & Charlie Musselwhite
4. Down Home Blues – Featuring Keb’ Mo’ & Lauren Mitchell 5. Stormy Monday – Featuring
Bettye Lavette 6. The Midnight Hour – Featuring Robert Cray 7. Dirty Mississippi
Blues – Featuring Mr. Sipp 8. The Patton Basie Shuffle 9. Evil Gal Blues – Featuring
Ledisi 10. Look What You’ve Done – Featuring Jamie Davis 11. Just for a Thrill –
Featuring Carmen Bradford 12. Rock Candy – Featuring George Benson

![Count Basie Orchestra - Basie Swings The Blues - Amazon.com Music](https://m.media-
amazon.com/images/I/81CTNcYQDCL._UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg)

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