Count Basie, Kansas City Suite

[CraigP]

Count Basie's Kansas City Suite was one of the first big band records I bought when I was starting to listen to jazz. It was one-half of a two-record set on Roulette Records (Roulette RE-124) that also featured Easin' It. At the time (the early '70's), Roulette was making a lot of their back catalog available as part of their Echoes of an Era series. Others that I picked up along the way included a set that provided my first exposure to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Putting this on the turntable for the first time in probably 30 years really brought back the rush that I felt when I was discovering jazz. I knew that Count Basie was a big name, but I didn't know where to begin when I bought the album. Even with my limited knowledge at the time, I knew when I got it home and saw the recording date was 1960 that it wasn't from the golden era of the big bands. Regardless, Kansas City Suite is classic, bluesy Basie. The Suite was composed and arranged by Benny Carter, who never actually played with the band. The ten tracks have a vaguely familiar feel now that I've listened to a lot of jazz, but the writing and playing are top-notch. This edition of the Orchestra included Snooky Young, Thad Jones, Marshall Royal, Frank Wess, Frank Foster and of course Freddie Green.

Listening to this as a teenager transported me to New York, to a mysterious world that I was just discovering and imagining. It was a nice way to spend part of an afternoon getting acquainted with it again.

[stereojack]

"Kansas City Suite" is also one of my favorite Basie albums, at least partially because it was the first one I ever owned. In the early 1960's it was issued as a budget priced LP on the Forum label, and as a cash-poor high school kid, the 99 cent price tag appealed to me. At the time, I knew very little about jazz, and had no idea who Benny Carter was!

In early 1964, I brought it with me when I and two friends went to see Basie's band at a ballroom called the Wagon Wheels in Peabody, MA, on Route 1 north of Boston. We were college freshmen, and really hadn't heard very much live jazz. We dranks Cokes all evening, and during the breaks I went up to many of the musicians and had them autograph the album cover. I still have the autographed cover.

Eventually as I learned more, I developed an admiration for Basie and Benny Carter, and in time I became familiar with all of the names that were scribbled on the back of the LP. I've long since acquired the CD release of the album, and would have dumped the poor quality Forum pressing, were it not for the special autographed jacket which still has a special place on my shelves.

And the music - all beautiful original compositions by Benny Carter, including the grooving "Vine Street Rumble" and the lovely "Meetin' Time". No one ever talks aboit this record, but it is a long time favorite of mine.

[CraigP]

I'll bet the musicians appreciated the fact that you had the LP. Did you meet the Count?

[clinthopson]

One thing that always struck me about the Carter charts for Basie was they were a true Basie sound. In fact, when I found out that Carter wrote those charts, I was amazed having total admiration for the Carter writing for his own stuff which was so different from Basie's.

[stereojack]

Originally Posted by CraigP

I'll bet the musicians appreciated the fact that you had the LP. Did you meet the Count?

Yes, and he did sign the jacket. The musicians were mostly friendly and accomodating.