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Track List

1 Just in Time 01:45
    by Jule Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green (Stratford Music Corporation)
2 When I Fall in Love 02:20
    by Victor Young, Edward Heyman (Avenue Music Publishing Co. Ltd., Famous Music)
3 Taking a Chance on Love 01:57
    by Vernon Duke, Ted Fetter, John La Touche (Bregman, Vocco & Conn, Inc.)
4 Without a Song 03:06
    by Vincent Youmans, William Rose, Edward Eliscu (Vincent Youmans, Inc., Miller Music Corp.)
5 Fascinating Rhythm 01:30
    by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin (Harms, Inc.)
6 (In My) Solitude 03:35
    by Duke Ellington, Eddie DeLange, Irving Mills (Mills Music, Milsons Music Publishing Corp.)
7 Pennies from Heaven 02:33
    by Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke (Select Music Publications, Inc.)
8 Lost in the Stars 04:01
    by Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson (Crawford Music Corporation (with Chappell))
9 Firefly 01:39
    by Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh (Carwin Music, Inc., Notable Music Co., Inc.)
10 There Will Never Be Another You 03:16
    by Harry Warren, Mack Gordon (Mayfair Music Corp.)
11 Lullaby of Broadway 03:13
    by Harry Warren, Al Dubin (M. Witmark & Sons)
12 Ol' Man River 05:00
    by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II (T. B. Harms Co.)
13 Strike Up the Band 01:33
    by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin (Harms, Inc.)
14 I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plans 01:43
    by Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz (Warner Bros, Inc.)
15 Chicago That Toddling Town 02:07
    by Fred Fisher (Fisher Music Corp.)
16 With Plenty of Money and You 01:33
    by Harry Warren, Al Dubin (Warner Bros, Inc.)
17 Anything Goes 02:50
    by Cole Porter (Warner Bros, Inc.)
18 Life is a Song 03:00
    by Fred Ahlert, Joseph Young (Fred Ahlert Music Corporation)
19 I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face 02:59
    by Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner (Chappell & Co, Inc.)
20 Jeepers Creepers 02:05
    by Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer (Warner Bros, Inc.)
21 Growing Pains 03:33
    by Arthur Schwartz, Dorothy Fields (Universal Polygram International)
22 Poor Little Rich Girl 03:30
    by Noel Coward (Warner Bros, Inc.)
23 Are You Havin' Any Fun 02:44
    by Sammy Fain, Jack Yellen (Crawford Music Corporation)

Total Time: 61:32

About Tony Bennett Swings with Count Basie and His Orchestra

The meeting of Tony Bennett and Count Basie in the late 1950s brought together two musicians whose careers had developed in different parts of American popular music but whose instincts were deeply rooted in jazz and swing. Bennett had established himself as a major popular singer during the early 1950s, while Basie had led one of the defining swing orchestras of the previous two decades. By the time they began working together, Bennett was consciously moving further toward jazz, encouraged in particular by his pianist and musical director Ralph Sharon. His 1957 album The Beat of My Heart, made with leading jazz musicians including Art Blakey, Chico Hamilton, Herbie Mann and Nat Adderley, was an important step in that direction.

The collaboration with Basie came in 1958. Bennett had long admired Basie, and in his autobiography he describes their first meeting as the fulfilment of a dream. Rehearsals brought Bennett together with Basie and the musicians of his orchestra, and the chemistry was immediate. Basie famously told his band, referring to Bennett, that whatever the singer wanted, he should get.

Their first major engagement together took place at the Latin Casino in Philadelphia, where Bennett and the Count Basie Orchestra opened on November 28, 1958. The engagement was a success, and the performances were recorded with the intention of producing a live album. Bennett later recalled that the recording equipment had to be installed in the club's basement kitchen because there was so little space in the room.

The resulting album was to become In Person!. There was, however, an unexpected change of plans. The Philadelphia concert had been recorded in mono, while Columbia wanted the new album in stereo. Producer Al Ham therefore decided not to use the concert recording and instead brought Bennett and the Basie Orchestra back into the studio. The program was recreated at CBS 30th Street Studio in New York, principally on December 22 and December 30, 1958. Ralph Sharon arranged the material and played piano on the sessions rather than Count Basie. The original LP then had audience applause added to create the impression of a live performance.

Thus, despite its title, the original In Person! album is not the actual recording of the Latin Casino performance. The Philadelphia engagement is the source of the live concept and repertoire, but the issued stereo album was recreated in the studio. The added applause was subsequently removed for later reissues, restoring the recordings to their actual studio form.

Musically, In Person! shows how naturally Bennett fitted into the Basie sound. Songs such as “Just in Time,” “Taking a Chance on Love,” “Without a Song,” “Fascinating Rhythm,” “(In My) Solitude,” “Pennies from Heaven,” “There Will Never Be Another You,” “Lullaby of Broadway” and “Ol' Man River” are treated not simply as vocal standards but as vehicles for swing-oriented arrangements. Ralph Sharon's arrangements leave room for Bennett's phrasing while allowing the orchestra to retain the rhythmic lightness and precision associated with Basie's music. The result is less a meeting of a singer and a backing band than a genuine musical dialogue.

The second album grew out of the same collaboration but was made under a different arrangement between the artists' record companies. Bennett was under contract to Columbia, while Basie recorded for Roulette, so the two artists made one album for each label. In Person! was issued by Columbia, while the second project was recorded for Roulette.

The second set was recorded at Capitol Studios in New York on January 3 and 5, 1959, with Count Basie himself at the piano. The orchestra included Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Wendell Culley and Joe Newman on trumpets; Henry Coker, Al Grey and Benny Powell on trombones; Marshall Royal and Frank Wess in the reed section alongside Frank Foster, Billy Mitchell and Charlie Fowlkes; Freddie Green on guitar, Eddie Jones on bass and Sonny Payne on drums. Ralph Sharon again supplied the arrangements.

The resulting album was initially issued by Roulette as Strike Up the Band, and the same recordings were also released under the title Basie Swings, Bennett Sings. The records belong to the same creative period, but the second album has a somewhat different character. Here Basie's presence is more directly felt, while Bennett is placed inside the orchestra's characteristic rhythmic framework. The repertoire includes “Strike Up the Band,” “Chicago,” “With Plenty of Money and You,” “Anything Goes,” “Life Is a Song,” “I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Growing Pains,” “Poor Little Rich Girl” and “Are You Havin' Any Fun?”

The contrast between the two albums is therefore partly circumstantial. In Person! was conceived around an actual live engagement and then reconstructed in the studio; Strike Up the Band was made directly as a studio production. Yet both reveal the same basic musical relationship. Bennett's voice has an unusual rhythmic flexibility, allowing him to phrase slightly behind or ahead of the beat without disturbing the underlying pulse. Basie's orchestra, in turn, provides an exceptionally precise rhythmic foundation while leaving space around the singer.

This was an important moment in Bennett's development as a jazz-oriented vocalist. Rather than abandoning the sophisticated popular-song tradition from which he had emerged, he brought it into closer contact with the language of swing. The repertoire itself makes that connection clear: Broadway and Hollywood songs sit alongside compositions associated with Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and the great American songwriters of the period.

The recordings also document a particularly strong version of the Count Basie Orchestra. The band of 1958–59 combined veterans of the earlier Basie tradition with younger musicians and arrangers who were extending the orchestra's sound into a new era. The famous Basie economy remained intact: carefully chosen notes, rhythmic space, strong sectional writing and an almost effortless sense of forward motion.

For Bennett, the collaboration became the beginning of a much longer personal and musical relationship with Basie. Bennett later recalled that the two continued to work together on numerous occasions during the following twenty-five years, and that Basie and members of his orchestra became close friends as well as colleagues.

These recordings therefore capture more than two albums from 1958–59. They preserve the moment when one of America's leading popular singers found an especially natural musical partner in one of its great jazz orchestras. Whether in the carefully recreated atmosphere of In Person! or the direct studio swing of Strike Up the Band, Bennett and Basie approach the American songbook with the same fundamental principle: the song comes first, and the rhythm gives it life.

EU Public Domain Notice
The historical sound recordings included in this release are in the public domain in the European Union. Blue Music Group has created a new digital restoration and mastering of these historical recordings. The digital restoration and mastering by Blue Music Group are protected by applicable copyright and related rights. Rights may differ in other territories, including the United States. This release is not intended for distribution in the United States.

Credits

Tony Bennett – vocals

The Count Basie Orchestra:
Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Wendell Culley – trumpet
Henry Coker, Benny Powell, Al Grey – trombone
Marshal Royal – alto sax, clarinet
Frank Wess – alto and tenor saxes, flute
Frank Foster – tenor sax, flute
Billy Mitchell – tenor sax, clarinet
Charlie Fowlkes – baritone sax, flute, bass clarinet
Freddie Green – electric guitar
Ralph Sharon – piano, arranger
Eddie Jones – double bass
Candido Camero – bongos (tracks 1-12)
Sonny Payne – drums