Personnel includes: Jimmy McGriff (organ); Manny Albam (arranger); Frank Foster (tenor sax); Jay Jay Johnson (trombone); Kenny Burrell (guitar); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Richard Davis (acoustic bass); Grady Tate (drums); Mel Lewis (drums).
Recorded at A&R Studios, New York, New York in 1966. Includes liner notes by Sonny Lester.
Personnel: Jimmy McGriff (organ); Kenny Burrell, Barry Galbraith (guitar); Frank Wess, Jerome Richardson (alto saxophone); Frank Foster , Billy Mitchell , Budd Johnson (tenor saxophone); Seldon Powell (baritone saxophone); Richard Gene Williams , Ernie Royal, Irvin "Marky" Markowitz, Joe Newman Quartet , Thad Jones, Jimmy Nottingham, Burt Collins (trumpet); Eddie Bert, Dick Hixson, J. Alan Johnson , Tom McIntosh, Wayne Andre, Paul Faulise (trombone); Tony Studd (bass trombone); Grady Tate, Mel Lewis (drums).
Liner Note Author: Bob Porter.
Recording information: A&R Studios, New York, NY (02/28/1966-04/??/1966).
Arranger: Manny Albam.
Recorded in 1966 and originally released on LP by Solid State Records that same year as Tribute to Count Basie, this delightful ten-song set has seen the digital light before in 1996 when Laser Light released it on CD under its original title. It features organist Jimmy McGriff soloing on several Count Basie numbers accompanied by a big band that includes several alumni from the Basie orchestra. Make no mistake, this is McGriff's record, and it sounds exactly like a soul-jazz outing with some big band swing grafted in, and that it all works probably has a lot to do with the presence of Manny Albam (who wrote for Basie) as the arranger. Among the highlights in what is a joyously cohesive sequence are versions of Neal Hefti's "Cherry Point," which features one of those patented ensemble riffs that Basie so favored, a jaunty take on Buck Clayton's "Avenue C," and a sturdy run-through of Albam's own "Slow but Sure." McGriff has always maintained that he is a blues organist rather than a jazz one, and as these ten selections show, Count Basie was no stranger to the blues, either. At just a hair over 36-minutes in length, this is a bit short for the CD era, but it is a wonderful set all the same, and well-worth owning. ~ Steve Leggett
Professional Reviews
JazzTimes (9/97, p.132) - "...McGriff steeps everything in his blues boiler with marvelous results....a real Basie feeling."
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