I’ve been absent from the #GenreOfTheWeek conversation for a while, but it wouldn’t be right to let the #BigBand week go by without somebody posting Ellington at Newport 1956, Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue. Legendary performance… https://youtu.be/wIX7fnYANak
And you can't have a #BigBand#GenreOfTheWeek without some #CountBasie either. Here's a laid-back blues that could be a trio or quartet recording for the first couple minutes, just delicious walking bass, and #Basie's restrained piano, swinging effortlessly with a plink here and there in just the right places. But you know it's coming... the riffs start sneaking in, and by 2:30 or so, you've got the full-on ton-of-bricks blast that nobody did better than the Basie band.