Count Basie Live! - 1938 At The Famous Door, NYC

The Basie band, with Harry James as the guest soloist, new arrival Harry Edison in the lineup, rocking New York's 52nd Street. The band is captured here in six late-night CBS broadcasts in the midst of its first big year of success, in an engagement that was supposed to last six weeks and ended up running four months, before an audience so taken with the group's sound that they willingly moved out onto the sidewalk while the group opened up to full volume for these broadcasts.

COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Ed Lewis, Buck Clayton, Harry Edison (tp), Benny Morton, Dan Minor, Dickie Wells (tb), Earl Warren (as), Jack Washington (as, bar), Herschal Evans, Lester Young (ts), Count Basie (p), Freddie Green (g), Walter Page (sb), Jo Jones (dm), Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes (vo), Charles Arlington (mc).
CBS 'America Dances' broadcast, New York City, July 9, 1938.
15. Every Tub
16. Song Of The Wonderer - vHH
17. Flat Foot Floogee - vJR
18. Oh, Lady Be Good
19. Boogie Woogie Blues - vJR
20. One O'clock Jump

CBS broadcast, Famous Door, New York City, July 23, 1938.
01. Introduction / Time Out
02. If I Could Be With You One Hour - vHH
03. Jumpin' At The Woodside
04. I Hadn't Anyone Till You - vJR
05. King Porter Stomp - guest Harry James (tp)
06. Oh, Lady Be Good
07. Everybody Loves My Baby

CBS broadcast, Famous Door, New York City, August 9, 1938.
08. King Porter Stomp

CBS broadcast, Famous Door, New York City, August 23, 1938.
09. John's Idea

CBS broadcast, Famous Door, New York City, August 24, 1938.
10. Nagasaki
11. Doggin' Around

CBS broadcast, Famous Door, New York City, September 6, 1938.
14. Out The Window

CBS broadcast, Famous Door, New York City, September 13, 1938.
12. Ta-Ta

CBS broadcast, Famous Door, New York City, October 10, 1938.
13. Yeah Man

The Basie band, with Harry James as the guest soloist, new arrival Harry Edison in the lineup, rocking New York's 52nd Street. The band is captured here in six late-night CBS broadcasts in the midst of its first big year of success, in an engagement that was supposed to last six weeks and ended up running four months, before an audience so taken with the group's sound that they willingly moved out onto the sidewalk while the group opened up to full volume for these broadcasts. There's hardly a note out of place, and the band shows its stuff behind renditions of "Jumping at the Woodside," "King Porter Stomp," and "One O'Clock Jump" (a killer finale) clocking in at between five and seven minutes with extended solos, double the length of their records if this era. Basie's piano gets some of the spotlight in a bracing version of "Lady Be Good." The fidelity is good to very good, and only "Everybody Loves My Baby" (a great number) is, alas, incomplete, a result of a transcription disc that was never found. That flaw aside, it is a release like this that transcends any of the criticism of the digital medium – put simply, it's only the existence of digital audio and digital editing that permitted an engineer to remove more than 200 scratches per second from the original transcription discs that this CD came from. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Tracklist:

01. Intro - Time Out (July 23, 1938 Famous Door)
02. One Hour (July 23, 1938 Famous Door)
03. Jumpin' At The Woodside (July 23, 1938 Famous Door)
04. I Hadn't Anyone Till You (July 23, 1938 Famous Door)
05. King Porter Stomp (July 23, 1938 Famous Door)
06. OH! Lady Be Good (July 23, 1938 Famous Door)
07. Everybody Loves My Baby (July 23, 1938 Famous Door)
08. Intro - King Porter Stomp (August 9, 1938)
09. John's Idea (August 9, 1938)
10. Nagasaki (Slip Horn Jive - August 24, 1938)
11. Doggin' Around (August 24, 1938)
12. Wo-Ta-Ta (September 13, 1938)
13. Yeah Man (October 10, 1938)
14. Out The Window (September 6, 1938)
15. Introduction - Every Tub (July 9, 1938 America Dances Program)
16. Song Of The Wanderer (July 9, 1938 America Dances Program)
17. Flat Foot Floogie (July 9, 1938 America Dances Program)
18. OH! Lady Be Good (Basie Blue Six - July 9, 1938 America Dances Program)
19. Boogie Woogie Blues
20. One O'Clock Jump