Count Basie Orchestra directed by Grover Mitchell: Count Basie Orchestra: Count Plays Duke/Rosemary Clooney and The Count Basie Orchestra: At Long Last

Common Ground. Grover Mitchell capably directs the Basie Orchestra on both of these releases, using the arrangements of Allyn Ferguson on both discs and adding John Oddo and Peter Matz as arrangers on At Long Last. The arrangements are tasteful and often pleasantly surprising. “Take the ‘A’ Train” from Count Plays Duke is taken at a slow strolling pace sans the familiar Ellington/Strayhorn introduction. The muted trumpets and spare piano accompaniment on At Long Last ’s “Willow Weep for Me” provide a comfortable cushion upon which Ms. Clooney may rest her experienced jazz phrasing. And such goes both discs. Extremely palatable music that is easy to listen to.

...And You are No Count Basie. "The Count Basie Orchestra" is a trade name for an otherwise competent, yet unremarkable band that performs on both of these discs. Calling a band today, "The Count Basie Orchestra" or the "Glenn Miller Orchestra" plays off of the same nostalgia that makes baby-boomers pay $23,000 for the new Volkswagen Beetle. Nothing beats the old Beetles (provided you liked them to begin with and nothing beats the Complete Atomic Basie. Rosemary Clooney is in fine form on At Long Last, making that disc interesting. My final opinion? It is schizophrenic. These recordings are very good, but did the marketplace really need them?