- Source: The Original American Decca Recordings
The American (2023)
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The Original American Decca Recordings (also released as The Complete Decca Recordings) is a 1992 compilation 3-CD set of sessions led by jazz bandleader Count Basie recorded for the Decca label between 1937 and 1939.
Reception
For Allmusic Scott Yanow wrote "This magnificent three-disc set has the first 63 recordings by Count Basie's Orchestra, all of his Deccas. The consistency is remarkable (with not more than two or three turkeys) and the music is the epitome of swing... This is the first Count Basie collection to acquire and should be in every jazz collection".
The Penguin Guide to Jazz identified this set as part of their suggested "Core Collection" of essential jazz albums and awarded the compilation a "Crown" signifying a recording that the authors "feel a special admiration or affection for".
Track listing
All compositions by Count Basie except where noted.
Disc one: 1937
"Honeysuckle Rose" (Andy Razaf, Fats Waller) ā 2:58
"Pennies from Heaven" (Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke) ā 3:00
"Swinging at the Daisy Chain" ā 2:48
"Roseland Shuffle" ā 2:32
"Exactly Like You" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh) ā 2:41
"Boo Hoo" (Carmen Lombardo, Edward Heyman, John Jacob Loeb) ā 2:25
"The Glory of Love" (Billy Hill) ā 2:29
"Boogie Woogie (I May Be Wrong)" (Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing) ā 2:49
"Smarty (You Know It All)" (Burton Lane, Ralph Freed) ā 2:40
"One O'Clock Jump" ā 3:00
"Listen My Children and You Shall Hear" (Lane, Freed) ā 3:05
"John's Idea" ā 2:53
"Good Morning Blues" [1st Take] (Count Basie, Eddie Durham, Jimmy Rushing) ā 3:12
"Good Morning Blues" [2nd Take] (Basie, Durham, Rushing) ā 3:03
"Our Love Was Meant to Be" (Alex Hill, Fats Waller, Joe Davis) ā 2:45
"Time Out" (Durham) ā 3:01
"Topsy" (Durham) ā 3:12
"I Keep Remembering" (Charles Newman, Isham Jones) ā 2:45
"Out the Window" (Basie, Durham) ā 3:08
"Don't You Miss Your Baby" (Basie, Durham, Rushing) ā 3:08
"Let Me Dream" (Henry Jerome) ā 3:09
Note
Recorded in New York City on January 21 (tracks 1ā4), March 26 (tracks 5ā8), July 7 (tracks 9ā12), August 9 (tracks 13ā17) and October 13 (tracks 18ā21), 1937
Disc two: 1938
"Georgianna" (Austen Croom-Johnson, Frank Carle, Red McKenzie) ā 2:33
"Blues in the Dark" ā 3:04
"Sent for You" (Durham, Rushing) ā 2:57
"Every Tub" (Basie, Durham) ā 3:14
"Now Will You Be Good?" (Arthur Terker, Harry Jentes, Harry Pease) ā 2:46
"Swingin' the Blues" (Basie, Durham) ā 2:45
"Mama Don't Want No Peas 'n' Rice 'n' Coconut Oil" (L. Charles, L. Wolfe Gilbert) ā 2:51
"Blue and Sentimental" (Basie, Jerry Livingston, Mack David) ā 3:10
"Doggin' Around" (Edgar Battle, Herschel Evans) ā 3:02
"Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" [1st Take] (Bickley Reichner, Clay Boland) ā 3:01
"Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" [2nd Take] (Reichner, Boland) ā 3:04
"London Bridge Is Falling Down" (Abel Baer, Ira Schuster, Tot Seymour) 2:55
"Texas Shuffle" (Evans) ā 3:07
"Jumpin' at the Woodside" ā 3:08
"How Long Blues" (Leroy Carr) ā 2:55
"The Dirty Dozen" (Rufus Perryman) ā 3:01
"Hey Lawdy Mama" (Cleve Reed) ā 2:44
"The Fives" (Hersal Thomas, George W. Thomas) ā 2:45
"Boogie Woogie" (Clarence Smith) ā 3:01
"Dark Rapture" (Benny Goodman, Edgar Sampson, Manny Kurtz) ā 2:38
"Shorty George" ā 2:44
"The Blues I Like to Hear" (Buster Smith, Rushing) ā 3:07
"Do You Wanna Jump, Children?" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Victor Selsman, Willie Bryant) ā 2:39
"Panassie Stomp" ā 2:47
Note
Recorded in New York City on January 3 (tracks 1 & 2), February 16 (tracks 3ā6), June 6 (tracks 7ā9), August 12 (tracks 10ā14) and November 9 (tracks 15ā19) and November 16 (tracks 20ā24), 1938
Disc three: 1939
"My Heart Belongs to Daddy" (Cole Porter) ā 2:54
"Sing for Your Supper" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) ā 2:42
"Oh! Red" (Kansas Joe McCoy) ā 2:53
"Fare Thee Honey, Fare Thee Well" [1st Take] (J. Mayo Williams, John Akers) ā 3:04
"Fare Thee Honey, Fare Thee Well" [2nd Take] (Williams, Akers) ā 3:02
"Dupree Blues" (George White, Woody Herman) ā 3:04
"When the Sun Goes Down" [1st Take] (Carr) ā 2:45
"When the Sun Goes Down" [2nd Take] (Carr) ā 2:54
"Red Wagon" (Richard M. Jones) ā 2:52
"You Can Depend On Me" (Charlie Carpenter, Earl Hines, Louis Dunlap) ā 3:07
"Cherokee, Part 1" (Ray Noble) ā 3:10
"Cherokee, Part 2" (Noble) ā 3:03
"Blame It on My Last Affair" [1st Take] (Henry Nemo, Irving Mills) ā 2:43
"Blame It on My Last Affair" [2nd Take] (Nemo, Mills) ā 2:42
"Jive at Five" (Harry Edison) ā 2:49
"Thursday" (Dorothy Sachs, Irvin Graham, Louis Haber) ā 3:04
"Evil Blues" (Basie, Edison, Rushing) ā 3:13
"Oh, Lady Be Good!" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) ā 3:10
Note
Recorded in New York City on January 5 (tracks 1ā3), January 26 (tracks 4ā9), February 2 (track 10), February 3 (tracks 11ā14) and February 4 (tracks 15ā18), 1939
Personnel
Count Basie ā piano
Bobby Moore (tracks: 1ā5 to 1ā21), Buck Clayton (tracks: 1-1 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā11), Carl "Tatti" Smith (tracks: 1-1 to 1ā4), Ed Lewis (tracks: 1ā5 to 1ā7), Harry Edison (tracks: 2ā3 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā11 to 3ā18), Joe Keyes (tracks: 1-1 to 1ā4), Karl George (tracks: 2-1, 2ā2), Shad Collins (tracks: 3-1, 3ā2, 3ā10 to 3ā18) ā trumpet
Benny Morton (tracks: 1ā18 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā11 to 3ā14, 3ā16 to 3ā18), Dan Minor (tracks: 1-1 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā11 to 3ā14, 3ā16 to 3ā18), Dicky Wells (tracks: 2ā10 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā11 to 3ā18), George Hunt (tracks: 1-1 to 1ā17) ā trombone
Eddie Durham ā trombone, guitar (tracks: 1ā13 to 2ā9)
Herschel Evans (tracks: 1-1 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2), Lester Young (tracks: 1-1 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā10 to 3ā18) ā clarinet, tenor saxophone
Earle Warren (tracks: 1ā9 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā11 to 3ā14, 3ā16 to 3ā18) ā alto saxophone, vocals
Caughey Roberts ā alto saxophone (tracks: 1ā4 to 1ā8),
Jack Washington (tracks: 1-1 to 2ā14, 2ā20 to 3ā2, 3ā11 to 3ā18) ā alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
Chu Berry (tracks: 3ā11 to 3ā14, 3ā16 to 3ā18) ā tenor saxophone
Claude Williams (tracks: 1-1 to 1ā4), Freddie Green (tracks: 1ā5 to 3ā18) ā guitar
Walter Page ā bass
Jo Jones ā drums
Helen Humes (tracks: 2ā20, 3ā1, 3ā2, 3ā13, 3ā14, 3ā16), Jimmy Rushing (tracks: 1-1, 1ā5, 1ā6, 1ā8, 1ā11, 1ā13, 1ā14, 1ā18, 1ā20, 2ā1 to 2ā3, 2ā5, 2ā7, 2ā10 to 2ā12, 2ā22, 2ā23, 3ā10, 3ā17) ā vocals