In 1964,
Count Basie handed the reins of his band over to composer and arranger
Billy Byers, purportedly to modernize his sound to the times. More accurately,
Byers energized the band with his bright charts loaded with counterpointed exchanges and interplay, plus a depth and density the
Basie band had long since relinquished to other similarly sized groups. With stellar personnel -- including
Eric Dixon,
Frank Foster,
Frank Wess,
Marshall Royal,
Al Aarons, and
Don Rader --
Byers and
Basie stoked the coals of the band with some red hot bop and intricate charts atypical to the laid-back approach that always served the band and its fans well. The upbeat tracks, the roaring "Basie Land," hard charging "Rabble Rouser" and the tumbling melody of "Gymnastics" are particularly noticeable, as the horns jump in and out of unison, shout amongst themselves, and stress the quite capable, energetic musicianship the band always sported, but had somewhat suppressed. "Big Brother" and "Instant Blues" are typical, laid-back
Basie style pronouncements in moderate or midtempo, but the horns still proclaim their innocence in a louder mindset. A feature for the underrated alto saxophonist
Marshall Royal during the perfectly titled, slow slung "Wanderlust" has his style approaching the vibrato shaded
Johnny Hodges, while the delicate "Count Me In" parallels
Foster's epic ballad "Shiny Stockings" in its basic melodic precept, accented by
Basie's chiming piano chords. The world class
Wess on flute takes the lead for the chugging along blues "Sassy," dedicated to
Sarah Vaughan, the piece again saturated with call and response, while
Wess,
Foster, and
Dixon gang up on flutes for "Yuriko" as
Basie's tinkling piano makes the impatient horns blurt out uncontrollably on occasion to get their two cents in. The set concludes with perhaps one of
Basie's all-time signature tunes as contributed by
Byers with "Doodle-Oodle," a famous hot bop, hummable or whistleable melody that can easily be copied while walking down the street.
Byers added something different to this version of the
Count Basie Orchestra, and only fans can be the ultimate judge of whether it was for the best.
Basie Land is certainly quite a substantive and compelling big-band jazz effort from A to Z. ~ Michael G. Nastos