The Complete Roulette Live Recordings of Count Basie and His Orchestra (1959-1962) (1991)

The gospel according to Basie exists in two testaments: the Old (a scrappy, star-studded blues band out of Kansas City in the '30s) and the New (an ironclad precision machine designed by a staff of ace arrangers, built in New York in the '50s). The best of the New Testament band is in this box, and only a small portion of it has ever been released before. You may think eight CDs (or 12 LPs) is more Basie than you need, but this music amounts to a sustained revelation -- some of the most intoxicating big-band sounds ever recorded. Basie's late-'50s group attained near-perfection in each of its instrumental sections, yet the trumpets are particularly staggering: They shake the rafters and modulate their vibrato in unerring unison. The leader's aphoristic piano is beautifully captured; the arrangements (by Thad Jones, Ernie Wilkins, Neal Hefti, Frank Foster, and others) are often inspired; the singers include Joe Williams, Irene Reid, and -- on one scintillating duet with O.C. Smith -- Sarah Vaughan. Turn up the volume; this is bliss.

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