Homage to Count Basie (Remastered) Bob Mintzer Big Band

• 1 Havin' Some Fun 07:51
• 2 April in Paris 06:04
• 3 One O'clock Jump 11:10
• 4 Lester Jumps Out 09:16
• 5 Cute 05:54
• 6 Shinny Stockings 07:40
• 7 Home Basie 04:06
• 8 Lil' Darling 08:41
• Total Runtime 01:00:42

Info for Homage to Count Basie (Remastered)

This is the best kind of homage. When Bob Mintzer looks back at Basie, it’s with respect, not with intent to imitate. Mintzer has his own agenda: Basie-inspired arrangements, but with writing that is fresh, lively, occasionally tongue-in-cheek, always swinging.

The 17-piece band of New Yorkers responds to the charts with a healthy appreciation for Basie-type dynamics, and Mintzer rewards them with ample stretch-out solo space. “One O’Clock Jump” builds great concerted momentum, yet ends teasingly, with a fragmented, near-Dixieland postscript. “Cute” has a Bill Holman-type flavor in its voicings. On “Li’l Darlin’,” the guys seem to be walking on eggshells: It is beautifully restrained, lagging behind the beat just right; unfortunately, the trademark guitar arpeggio is virtually obscured.

Mintzer the soloist reveals a gutsy, driving tenor sound on his cleverly titled original “Lester Jumps Out.” Mintzer the writer likes to anchor the band’s sound with a solid foundation from baritonist Roger Rosenberg and bass trombonist Dave Taylor. “Home Basie,” another Mintzer original, is a monster chart, but its R&B pulse must have made Basie change key in his grave.

Bob Mintzer, clarinet, flute, baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone
Lawrence Feldman, clarinet, flute, alto saxophone
Pete Yellin, clarinet, flute, alto saxophone
Scott Robinson, clarinet, flute, tenor saxophone
Roger Rosenberg, baritone saxophone
Bob Millikan, flugelhorn, trumpet
Byron Stripling, flugelhorn, trumpet
Scott Wendholt, flugelhorn, trumpet
Michael Philip Mossman, flugelhorn
Michael Davis, trombone
Larry Farrell, trombone
Keith O'Quinn, trombone
Dave Taylor, bass trombone
Phil Markowitz, piano
Dennis Irwin, double bass
James Chirillo, guitar
Brian Brake, drums
John Riley, drums

Produce by Bob Mintzer

Digitally remastered

Bob Mintzer
is an internationally celebrated jazz musician and longtime faculty member in the Jazz Studies program at USC Thornton. The saxophonist, conductor, and composer/arranger is a longstanding member of the GRAMMY Award-winning Yellowjackets, the fusion supergroup that released its first album in 1981. He leads big bands across the globe, performs with his own quartet, and plays with numerous artists.

In addition of an active performance schedule, Mintzer writes for orchestra, concert band and big band with over five hundred charts to his credit. His big band music is performed by groups all over the world. He has also written works for the National Symphony Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra of the Netherlands, HR Big Band in Frankfurt, and was commissioned to write a piece for concert band and tenor sax, Go, by a consortium of 50 universities.

Mintzer recently became the chief conductor of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany. He honed his big band writing and playing skills in the bands of Tito Puente, Buddy Rich and Thad Jones-Mel Lewis.

As an instrumentalist, he has worked with Art Blakey, Jaco Pastorius, Sam Jones, Randy Brecker, Gil Evans, GRP All Star Big Band, Mike Manieri, and The New York Philharmonic, to name a few. He has done session work for James Taylor, Steve Winwood, Queen, Donald Fagan, Milton Nascimento, and countless others.

A respected educator, Mintzer is the recipient of the Bowen H. “Buzz” and Barbara M. McCoy Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies at USC Thornton. A professor of Jazz Studies, he is the conductor of the USC Thornton Jazz Orchestra.

Based in Los Angeles, he continues to conduct clinics and workshops worldwide. He has also written nearly twenty books which are an important part of the curriculum of jazz education everywhere.

This album contains no booklet.