This outstanding tribute to Kansas City's premiere hot bandleader begins with "Moten Swing," recorded in 1932 near the end of "the
Moten Dynasty" with
Count Basie at the piano and
Ben Webster blowing the tenor saxophone. After this sensible and very convincing opener, the listener is treated to a chronological survey of
Moten's exciting and influential recorded works. Only one example of the earliest
Moten groups is provided here. Recorded in St. Louis in September of 1923, "Elephant Stomp" has solos by cornetist
Lammar Wright, trombonist
Thamon Hayes,
Woodie Walder doing funny things with a clarinet mouthpiece, and a scribbled banjo solo by
Sam Tall. This prefaces a more carefully arranged and tightly presented series of records cut in Chicago between December of 1926 and the summer of 1929. They are joyously hot performances designed for dancers and drinkers. "Let's Get It" features a remarkably subtle banjo solo by
Buster Berry, and nephew
Buster Moten executes marvelous runs on an accordion during "Moten Blues." The next phase of this band's development involved the compositional and arranging skills of pianist
William Basie, a friend of
Fats Waller's who came all the way from Red Bank, NJ.
Bill Basie was designated as "
Count" by
Moten, who teasingly referred to him as "that no-account
Basie." With
Basie's arrival, the
Moten orchestra took on a smoother, stronger aspect that speaks of stylistic developments that would soon develop in the jazz world, largely thanks to what
Basie (and
Ellington) would accomplish on phonograph records, over the radio, and live in front of the people nationwide.