Count Basie

The Count Basie Orchestra of 1968 is effectively captured on this video, which combines a 48-minute performance in a large auditorium in Berlin, Germany, on November 9, 1968, with 20 minutes of a show three days later in Stockholm, Sweden. In both cases, the footage is black-and-white videotape, with the German portion far clearer and better shot (by multiple TV cameras and apparently for the national network). Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis is given a featured credit on the DVD cover, and he earns it with his saxophone solos on Neal Hefti's barnburners "Whirly-Bird" and "Splanky," "The Magic Flea," and two versions of "Cherokee." But other instrumentalists also shine, notably Oscar Brashear on "A Night in Tunisia" and Marshall Royal on "Lonely Street," while Basie's own showcase comes with "Good Time Blues." Singer Marlena Shaw adds her jazz vocals to "Bill Bailey" (with Basie's name substituted), "On a Clear Day," and "Muddy Water Blues." The section work is excellent, and so is the sound, even when, in the Swedish footage, the picture is fuzzy. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide