Hollywood… Basie’s Way

In October 1957, Count Basie recorded the album E=MC2, also known as The Atomic Mr. Basie, which became one of the top-hit LPs by the Basie band. The release of that album in late 1957 marked the beginning of a glorious new phase in Count Basie’s career during a time in which sustaining a big band was extremely difficult due to the change of musical tastes (for a while Basie even contented himself with leading small groups ranging from sextets to octets).

That album would have the same importance for Basie as the Newport ’56 concert and subsequent album would have for Ellington. Both Ellington and Basie were extremely rare in being able to sustain their big bands for the rest of their careers (both bands even subsisted for a while after their leaders’ deaths; Basie died in 1984).

Given the album’s success, Basie was allowed to continue recording regularly notwithstanding the emergence of rock & roll and other massively popular musical styles, and, ten years after the making of The Atomic Mr. Basie, the Count recorded the superb album presented here, consisting of Hollywood songs arranged by Cuban star Chico O’Farrill (1921-2001).