The Atomic Mr Basie

I always saw this album as swing’s last hurrah before rock and roll fully took over, and what a hurrah it was. All the players are top notch here. And what a ballsy move to put an atomic explosion on the cover barely a decade after WWII; ballsy, and fitting for the music here. It just edges into a 5 for me.

Yet another example on this list of how dance music used to be way cooler than it is now. Albums like this make me truly tired of getting packed into a small dark room with 18 dollar cocktails just so that I can gyrate in my allotted square foot of space. I also think that there is a really cool level of fatalism present in this album. The world could end any day now in nuclear Armageddon, let's have four martinis and swing! Our fatalism today is much more depressing. Let's make fatalism fun again.

This big band record catches me in the right mood. Dude this album was great to sit and fill out a really angry company survey to.

On first listen, I was a little dismissive - yeah, yeah, Big Band, whatever, stuff my 80-something dad likes. On Listen 2 I realized: this album is pretty amazing! It only got better as I listened to it over and over. The word "frenetic" kept coming to mind. I liked learning that the arranger Neal Hefti wrote the Batman TV series theme (Bat Maaaaaan! Bat Maaaaaan! nah-nah, nah-nah, nah-nah, nah-nah Bat MAAAANN!!). To show how these things are generational, I had never heard of Hefti, but when I mentioned his name to my 80-something Dad his response was "of course I know Hefti!" His Wikipedia entry is pretty interesting. They quote Miles Davis saying, "If it weren't for Neal Hefti, the Basie band wouldn't sound as good as it does." Respect. Back to the album, I loved pretty much all the tracks. Flight of the Foo Birds, Double-O (what a sax solo!), and Fantail (drums!!!) really caught my attention. I also really liked the mellow tracks. After Supper had a nice opening piano part, a great tune throughout and I loved the walking bass line. Midnite Blue is clearly a song about a dame, y'know, the broad who came into your life and left it in shambles. The final "Lil' Darling" wraps it up nicely at the end of a wild evening at the club. Maybe you're even finally slow dancing cheek to cheek with the dame from Midnite Blue and all is right in the world. In an earlier review I said I'm simply not a jazz fan. This album (along with Keith Jarrett's The Koln Concert) shows me that I can definitely be a fan of some jazz. I want to dig in a lot deeper now. 5 star wham-bam-POW!

The album that brought joy in the middle of this snow storm.

Big band music isn't generally my favorite - it's generally background noise to me - but this was surprisingly listenable. There are significant shades of harlem-esque jazz in here. I enjoyed it far more than I expected to.

Very enjoyable jazz, mostly falling on the "hot" side. (My mom categorizes all jazz as either "hot", "cool", or "what time does the tune start", heh.) Fave track - "Kid From Red Bank" for hot, "Lil' Darlin'" for cool!

I love putting this on walking around my neighbourhood built in the 50s and imagining I’m back in time. Simple yet beautiful. The melody on the last song is heartbreaking too.

“The Atomic Mr. Basie” by the Count Basie Orchestra (1958). Exquisite big band jazz and swing, this music places the serious listener smack in the middle of a Woody Allen movie, and then escorts him/her/them straight to heaven. These are beautiful and intricate arrangements, with disciplined and precise performances, featuring sublime solo work. Each soloist knows exactly what a soloist should and should not do. Rock, folk, synth, and hip hop artists should appreciate the value of the planning and execution of the big band style, perfectly exemplified by the CBO. Basie's piano playing is deft and sensitive, articulating the passion behind Neal Hefti’s visionary arrangements. Strictly professional. All music lovers should cultivate an appreciation of this contribution to American music—it helps to define the entire era of recording, from the 1930s to the present. That album cover, however, didn’t age well. The promo guys got a little carried away. 5/5

A rock'n'roll guy at heart, which is why he's blowing shit up on the cover and in the music.

girl no fuck this swing shit

I’m sorry, I just can’t do jazz for long periods of time unless it’s low and slow like smoking meat. I can dig Kenny G. I bet that man can smoke some meat. Lucious, glorious meat. But enough about my Kenny G fantasy. This… well, this popped. But not in a good way. Very high pitched. Very staccato. Not unlike Flight of the Bumblebee or my recent sentence structure. However, Flight is a delicate piece on a violin that still soothes you as much as it makes you uneasy. But this… well, this was markedly more aggressive by virtue of the trumpet’s incessant blasting into my amygdala. I’m sorry, Count Basie, but I’m afraid I’ll have to count you out. Down for the count. More apropos to this review, a count of one. No recounts allowed.

An exceptional jazz big band album. From the opening track, you know what to expect for the rest of the album: A large sound, vibrant solos, and upbeat compositions. The dynamics between Count Basie's orchestra make the album a classic. The feeling of the album is in the name, and you can't help but move when listening to it. Favorite tracks: The Kid From Red Bank, Duet, Double-O, Midnite Blue, Splanky

A great jazz music album. This is going on top of my list for great jazz albums. Double-O is an amazing song, with an running bass line which contrasts very nicely with overlying horns and piano. My only critique might be the overused horns, however, this kind of sound is typical in 1950s music

Been waiting for this one 🙏 this list needs more jazz

Really felt this one. Hard to think of a better sounding big band recording and the feel is spot-on. Somehow arrives in that perfect moment when this style of music felt essential and yet recording technology had caught up enough to make it really sing. Favourite song: Midnite Blue

I’m not sure what I was expecting off this. But not what I got, that’s for sure. Awful.

some may say the album cover is more fit for free jazz than this record, and idk maybe theyre right but more likely theyre underestimating The Power Of The Swing....it exists all around us....it changed the world!!! tasty and awsom album, its hard to imagine a bad time to listen to something like this....swing (the genre) is not at the forefront of my musical vocabulary but swing (the concept/sensation) absolutely is so its clearly only a matter of time! the less energetic tracks here are also clearly golden cuts, tho im worse currently at parsing a big band/swing band than later types of jazz ensembles. but its as seasoned and gratifying as i could want from a guy who just Never Stopped Doing Big Band for decades and decades, just continually honing his craft and collaborators, and hey sometimes u get lil tastes of bebop and onwards too it aint totally backwards looking...fine fine work

The most interesting big band music I've ever heard - way ahead of its time, really good! [EDIT: Sounds like a bunch of soundtrack themes to exciting yet unmade films thrown together. "Duet", in particular is great. Extra points for the cover art. Boom]

Love this album!! Still seems fresh even though it goes back to 58. Every song is great. I particularly like the fact that the first half of the album is super upbeat and then about half way through slows down and changes the mood completely. Favorite track: Lil' Darlin. 4 stars

I never knew Count Basie was making music like this well into the 1950s. There's a lot of creativity, energy and vitality to these songs, and I can even hear a bit of rock mixed in with the jazz. Count Basie's horn section really feels like an atomic bomb here. Works really well together, no favourite track, rather listen to the album as a whole!

Un poco sobrevalorado, pero buena onda.

The Atomic Mr Basie Nice cover. Interesting one this. I think had I listened to this back at the start of the year I would have really struggled with it, but now there’s quite a bit I do like and can appreciate, but I would also still say that I’m not yet a fan of the more frenetic dancier Big Band numbers. Luckily on here they are counterpointed by some slightly more lower tempo tracks The Kid from Red Bank is a case in point - the slightly fraught tempo, piercing horns and rinky dink piano isn’t really my cup of tea - but I can see the skill and I can admire the energy. With something like this you can almost feel the breath of Rock’N’Roll on its shoulder. Duet is a bit more palatable, at a nicer tempo and the horns seem to be used more melodically rather than rhythmically and forcefully as on the opening track. After Supper is even better, you can still hear the Big Band-ness but it’s so gracefully performed, the piano is great and the horns have a restrained and tasteful feel. Pure 1950s black and white US sitcom theme music feel to Flight of the Foo Birds. And pure 1950s US chat show theme music feel to Double-O, despite the great piano intro. Teddy the Toad is good though, kind of similar to Duet, and very nicely arranged. Whirly-Bird would be my favourite of the uptempo dance numbers, there’s a real punch to the drums and the horns. Midnight Blue is probably my stand out, it feels more cinematic and widescreen than some of the others and despite sounding jazzy, the arrangement seems more like a mid 60s pop song - replace the horns with a guitar and it would sound pretty cool. Splanky has a nice sophisticated feel, again the horn arrangement has a nice restraint and the piano is great. Fantail doesn’t quite do it for me, not sure why, but it probably just falls too close to the franticness of the first track. Li’l Darlin is rather lovely though, a real softness and delicateness to it, definitely one of the standout tracks. I rather enjoyed this, although I think that's more enjoying it for a late 50s jazz album, rather than as an album in its own right, but I certainly wouldn't be averse to hearing it again. I’m not into it enough to go 4, so it lands as a solid mid to high 3. ⚛️⚛️⚛️ Playlist submission: Midnight Blue

The album was cozy, it was fun, but it all felt the same, i would not be able to tell you about a single number from the album. But if I was in need for some background noise that most people wouldn't mind, this one could be put on

Very enjoyable listen, but I also struggle with picking any one track out. They all flow together very well and that becomes a bit of their downfall. I'd happily have it on in the background while sitting around relaxing or enjoying a good time that isn't necessarily focused on the music. It's nice jazzy and I enjoy the contrabass quite a bit. A very cohesive listen where no one track stood out to me as particularly above or below the others Standouts - 3/5

Yes important in a musical education - along with a few paragraphs of the Wikipedia entry.....Look for the 1994 remaster - previous version either ripped badly to YT music or is a bad recording, despite its importance. Not forgetting how important his innovations and influence are he is one of many who changed music, creating many "standards" - the track "Li'l Darlin" standing out to me as something I first heard on "Come in Spinner" on ABC in 1990 when first discovering the swoons and joys of jazz and the voices the orchestra can play. Whichever way you discover a love for Jazz, I hope you find it. But this album is more history that joy for me. But a great reminder of the debt owed to the passionate innovative genius of the first half of the 20th century I music. They were exciting rule breaking and standard setting times.

Smooth! That’s how I think of Count Basie - both as a pianist & a band-leader. This album might be a Count Basie album, but the music here has a lot to do with Neal Hefti, who both composed & arranged the music. Hefti was hot in the 50’s & 60’s. I was a kid but I knew his name. He composed & arranged music for the Woody Herman & Harry James Orchestras, before connecting with Basie in the early 50’s. The emphasis is on the brass. No strings here, which was Hefti’s want. He had started as a trumpeter, after all. He’ll always be best remembered for two compositions - his theme song for the TV show, The Odd Couple, but most of all for the title track to the TV series Batman. This album moves at a pace that hardly gives you time to breathe. And, as one critic has remarked, it was probably The Count’s last great album.

More concentration than I possess is needed to lift me away from the noir cinema association this brings me, but it's a fine example of this sort of formation flying. I kept thinking of scenes from Touch of Evil, among others.

5/10 That's nice. 5-2-2024

not my style at all

No

A bit too "old" for me. Audio quality was low by modern standards. Too brassy.

Probably the best something like this can be, but not my thing at all. Technically very good, very proficient, great production etc but with this style of music, if it doesn't have a crooner singing, it's just not my thing Between a 1 and a 2 1/5

Не представляю как это можно серьëзно слушать, всë время ловлю флешбеки с опенинга Гриффинов. Не зашло

Vomit

a really great big band swing record. it's upbeat moments are sleek and grand and full of energy. the ballads are quiet and sweet. i was in my high school's jazz band, and so i have a real soft spot for this type of music. i know some basie here and there, but never listened to one of his albums in full before. this was really great! i will definitely come back to it.

Boom.

Big band in top form!

1958’ bebop love it!

So many great tuuunes!! Splanky - first played that in Rockshop Big band! And kid from red bank…uni big band..! Gonna join a big band now.

Oh yeah, inject about 20 ccs of this straight to my veins. Let's just make this the year we bring back big band clubs that allow smoking. Sound good?

The end of the world ain’t no thing when it’s soundtracked by big band swing.

YES! I could listen to this on a train, in the rain, in the air or on a dare. I could listen to Atomic Basie anywhere.

I don’t really like jazz music but this record is pretty awesome! I can easily understand why it was so influential. A perfect record!

В этом альбоме — запах сигаретного дыма, густого, как ночной туман над Гарлемом. В этом альбоме свет тусклых ламп, подрагивающих в такт ритму большого города, который никогда не спит. В этом альбоме — шум разгульных джазовых клубов 40-х, ещё не отошедших от эха большой войны. В середине 1950-х стало понятно, что эпоха биг-бендов уходит навсегда, как последний поезд, ускользающий в предрассветной мгле. И именно в это время Каунт Бейси записывает свой альбом. Мягкий, изысканный, с точной, почти математически выверенной гармонией. Здесь всё на своих местах: каждая медная секция, каждый удар барабана. А главное — этот фирменный, слегка ленивый, но убийственно точный фортепианный почерк Бейси, который будто бы подмигивает тебе со сцены. Парадокс этого альбома в том, что он звучит как эхо 40-х, но в то же время явно предвосхищает будущее. Почти каждый трек здесь — как миниатюрный ядерный реактор, заряженный энергией, которую джаз в скором времени подарит фьюжну, фанку и рок-н-роллу.

Whoever did the cover got it right cause this album is the bomb. Thoroughly enjoyable listening. Every track.

LOVE U MR BASIE!!!!!

8.7/10

These cats were cookin'. They were SWINGIN'! FUCK!!!

Big band music rocks. Enjoyable all the way through.

So good.

This album is fantastic from start to finish. Every track swings with effortless charm, making it one of the easiest, most enjoyable listens you’ll find in jazz. Count Basie and his orchestra are absolutely on fire here.

So quintessential it has become omnipresent, musical shorthand for the period. Brilliant in writing and execution.

Wunderbar.

the cover on this album doesn't lie, this album BOOMS through your speakers like a nuclear bomb. this is a really solid big band album. it's a pure embodiment of what makes 50's brass bands great. the harmonies and the near-perfect collaboration between all the members make this album great both when it came out and listening more than 70 years later. i feel like this is music for a swanky casino.

Jazz rules

First 5-star album for me in this project. Growing up in jazz band, Mr. Caswell put me on this one. Count Basie is one of the greats, an iconic bandleader and composer. This album is playful and inquisitive, balancing an excitement and pensiveness. I can see myself lounging in my living room with this record on, a sizzling crackle of vinyl imperfection, getting lost in the world of jazz before returning back to reality.

One of the classic albums of jazz. Always a joy to listen to.

This album really makes a statement with its cover, equating big-band music with such modern innovations as the theory of relativity and the atomic bomb. I would have to say Count Basie is right in his comparison. Modern music has had a socially transformative effect similar to either of those two scientific developments. This album itself is a great exploration of just what is possible in music, and is still enjoyable almost 70 years later (unlike the atomic bomb). Favorite track: "Splanky"

Count Basie it a pianist, but there isn't a lot of piano on this album. His true talent is as a band leader - and he was one of the best. Him and his orchestra were some of the most talented musicians in the genre. This is probably the shiniest shining example of Big Band.

Shit is rad

Loved it

While I'd be pretty hopeless trying to distinguish one big swing band from another, this album makes me feel good and exudes optimism and good vibes – and pure fun. I admire anyone who can command an ensemble and turn a room of nine musicians into a force like this. There was an excellent dynamism to the proceedings, gale forces and slow breezes, high tides and calm waters. So I guess I don't exactly know my swing, but I like it.

Holy shit, this is a powerful album! I feel like that part in "The Jerk" when Steve Martin hears white music for the first time ever and suddenly understands rhythm. 5/5

WOW ça explose dans mes oreilles! Tu m’aurais juste montré le cover, j’aurais gagé 1000$ que c’était un album alt rock des 90s, mais ça pète tout autant! Ça fait très très très Whiplash, c’est peut-être pour ça que sa m’affecte autant, donc un gros 5 pour la surprise!

Swing fun, especially the first song

5 * Perfection

Mr. Basie and friends with the most intimate sounding big band you’re likely to hear. Splendid on every level.

кайф

This is killing. And Basie plays with so much space, and spacing, so sparse (Midnite Blue) I’m full to the brim with pleasure. Who’s that trumpeter on ‘Duet’? Man, this is good - not quite the last of the big bands (Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Joe Henderson), but a great selection here - especially for a list so wanting of jazz.

Really felt this one. Hard to think of a better sounding big band recording and the feel is spot-on. Somehow arrives in that perfect moment when this style of music felt essential and yet recording technology had caught up enough to make it really sing.

Enjoyed this from start to finish. There is something timeless about these very good big band/orchestra ensembles that were creating music before Rock and Roll became king. I am a sucker for horns so that might contribute to my affinity for this album.

Its fab. Takes me back to listening to vinyl with my mom as a kid.

10/10 instrumental.

Swinging tunes from a Jersey guy & his band. Loved them in “Blazing Saddles”. Music that takes me to a time I was never a part of…& that’s music!

Excellent. Really enjoyed this.

Love me some big band, and Lil’ Darlin’ sealed the deal on this

Big band music was another thing my dad introduced me to, although I don't remember him having this album. It's brilliant.

Really lovely jazz!

блин вот это было кайфово, мне прям заходит такая старая американская поп музычка, саксофончики-пианинчики, все как положено. такие вайбы! особенно мне понравилось джазово-танцевальное, the kid from the red bank и double-o

Never heard tis one before, and I'm glad it was on the list. Great album!

Classic jazz album between big band and bebop.

Big band jazz at its best. Splanky sounded very familiar to me, and after a quick search I realised it was used as the end-tune for the Dutch current affairs TV programme Brandpunt, back in the 80s. Great album to have on the list.

(10) ★★★★★

It's amazing music. Every song is a banger.

Classic big band album. I don’t know much of the history or significance of Count Basie. I know I listened to an awesome jazz album, though. Standouts: The Kid from Red Bank, Flight of the Foo Birds, Whirly-Bird, Midnite Blue, and Lil’ Darlin’.

Awesome album. Every song was a fun time. Not sure how this compares to other big band/swing albums but I enjoyed it a lot.

Amazing album cover, especially considering my expectations of Count Basie. Come on, you just know this is some of the highest caliber of a genre. A track like Fantail is so cool. This album is full of the trumpet content we have all been looking for. Stimulates the neurons.

A lovely surprise. Wouldn't have chosen it, but very nice vibe

Bangers. Big band is a genre that needs to be revitalized. The energy that this album brings is incredible and only surpassed by the quality of the music being produced. I've learned from this journey that I need more Jazz/Swing/Big Band in my life as these albums are all fantastic.

Absolutely brilliant. At a time when American suburbanites' love for Sinatra made big band swing old fashioned and unhep, an OG said, "dig this" and makes arguably the best album in the genre's history. Cutting edge jazz at the time was Hard Bop with its faster, faster / more is better / Thousands of Notes per Minute ethos. Basie carved space into every arrangement and let very simple melodic lines dangle almost impossibly behind the beat.

Calm jazz.

Pure genius. Excellent playing and composition. Not much else to say, music speaks for itself. And the cover art is fucking HARD

Is there anything finer than when a trombone goes "Bwwwwaaaaaaaa"? Album cover: A+

This album really rocked. I experienced it as one long track, so don't have too much to say about the individual songs. It was a fun pace and didn't feel old. As many people of approximately my age do, I associate big band swing music positively with walking through the apocalyptic wastelands of America in the Fallout games. "Whirly-Bird" had an awesome trumpet? saxophone? some wind instrument? solo. I loved it. "Splanky" had sections that would be perfect background to elaborate heist scenes in cartoons or comedy shows. I liked the entire album and will definitely listen to it again. Fantastically engaging background music. Great length, it ended right as I was thinking I could enjoy something different. 9/10 Additional comment: making the album cover a mushroom cloud in 1958 is bold.

I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for big bands. I remember one coming to my school many years ago and the other kids finding it dumb, but I loved it. Today’s album sounds most definitely like something that could be on a Fallout soundtrack, and I love every minute of it. There are not vocals here, with the instruments saying everything necessary without any voices coming into the mix. This quite simply provided the level of bombast that I like. A definite recommend for me.

Went from a 4 to a 5 as the album swang along. Beautiful playing, a jubilant atmosphere and enticed everyone in the room to listen, enjoy and discuss. Surely what a true work of art is about. Will now class this as a new future favourite

tes

Right off the bat this is great. The kid from redbank swings fast and hard and then “duet” slows it down. This is possibly my favorite jazz album now.

Basie in the Placie London!