The Count Basie Orchestra - High Voltage

When in January, 1970 Count Basie entered the studio with his 17-piece big band to record "High Voltage", he ushered in the last full decade as bandleader of his Orchestra. The Orchestra had left its imprint on the sixties by recording with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. There would be more great albums with star vocalists in the seventies, but the band´s purely instrumental works, which had begun 1965, would also continue. Back then Basie had engaged acclaimed Cuban composer/arranger Chico O´Farrill to arrange the music for such concept albums as „Basie Meets Bond“ and „Basie´s Beatle Bag“, transforming them into crossover gems. On „High Voltage“ O´Farrill demonstrates his affinity to Basie´s big band sound, this time with a repertoire of standards. For this album, Basie specifically chose pieces the band had never recorded in their more than 30-year existence. This is sayin something, since the band covers such an impressive span of jazz history. Stefan Franzen.