Count Basie is a national treasure. I don’t know much about big band music or swing music, but I very much enjoyed this album. I did not find any dull moments or lulls. Highlights for me include the energetic and bright horns and Basie’s wonderful piano.
My parents first met around the time this album was released. As I listened, I found myself imagining my parents and grandparents spending an evening at a supper club in Chicago having a nice meal and then dancing the night away as the band played music like this. It’s comforting to look back and picture my parents enjoying a night out during their courtship.
This is a good record to put on during a dinner party or if one wants to just create a mellow mood for enjoying cocktails and maybe a good cigar on the back deck. My rating:
British jazz journalist Nick Lea takes a deep dive into the making of this album and Count Basie’s development. I highly recommend you read the whole thing.
Originally released as simply Basie, and also known as E = mc² the album caused quite a stir. Eleven new tracks written and arranged by Neal Hefti gave notice that big bands could still play a vital role in the music of the day, and still swing hard…With its striking cover image of the huge mushroom cloud, the album was soon renamed as The Atomic Mr. Basie.1
Bruce Eder writing for AllMusic asserted that
it took Basie's core audience and a lot of other people by surprise, as a bold, forward-looking statement within the context of a big-band recording -- if not as daring as what Duke Ellington had done at Newport in 1956, still a reminder that there was room for fresh, even dazzling improvisation (especially courtesy of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis's contribution) within the framework of a big-band jazz unit.2
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, John Tobler wrote:
“I have never bragged on anything,” the ever0modest Basie wrote in his autobiography, “but [the Atomic Basie] band…was one I could have bragged on.” He’s not wrong.3
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 183. The Atomic Mr Basie by Count Basie & His Orchestra
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: n/a
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Recorded on October 21–22 1957. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Wake Up Little Susie” by The Everly Brothers4
• Number one album: Around The World In 80 Days Soundtrack5
• Number one movie: Around The World In 80 Days by Michael Anderson6
• Most watched TV programs: Gunsmoke, The Danny Thomas Show, The Tales of Wells Fargo, Have Gun Will Travel, I’ve Got a Secret, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, General Electric Theater, The Restless Gun, December Bride, You Bet Your Life, The Perry Como Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents7
• NYT bestseller, fiction: By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens8
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Baruch: My Own Story by Bernard M. Baruch9
Some other albums released that month
• Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! by Johnny Cash
• Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet by The Miles Davis Quintet
• Coltrane by John Coltrane
• Sonny Rollins Vol. 2 by Sonny Rollins
• Thelonius Himself by Thelonius Monk
• Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster by Coleman Hawkins with Ben Webster
• Elvis’ Christmas Album by Elvis Presley10
Sport
• Oct 8 Brooklyn Dodgers announce move to Los Angeles.
• Oct 10 Baseball World Series: Milwaukee Braves beat NY Yankees, 5-0 at Yankee Stadium to clinch 4 games to 3 series victory; MVP: Braves pitcher Lew Burdette (3-0).
• Oct 19 Montreal Canadien Maurice "Rocket" Richard, becomes the 1st NHLer to score 500 goals.
Notable Births
• Oct 23 Paul Kagame, Rwandan leader, head of Rwandan Patriotic Front, President of Rwanda (2000-), born in Tambwe, Ruanda-Urundi.
• Oct 25 Nancy Cartwright, American Emmy Award-winning voice actress (The Simpsons - "Bart Simpson"), born in Dayton, Ohio.
• Oct 29 Dan Castellaneta, American comedian, and Emmy Award-winning voice actor (The Simpsons -"Homer"), born in Chicago, Illinois.
Historical Events
• Oct 10 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
• Oct 14 Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Monarchy in Canada Canadian Monarch to open up an annual session of the Parliament of Canada Canadian Parliament, presenting her Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada.
• Oct 22 Vietnam War: First United States casualties in Vietnam.11
Notable Deaths
• Oct 23 Chrisian Dior, French fashion designer (New Look), dies of a heart attack at 52.
• Oct 23 Frederick Burton, American actor (The Big Trail, One Way Passage), dies at 86.
• Oct 29 Louis B. Mayer, American film producer and creator of the star system (MGM), dies at 71.
Tobler, John, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 31.
Ibid.