This is nominated for the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Large Ensemble Album. The awards are on 4 February.
When the horn section for your R&B album is The Count Basie Orchestra…
BluesRockReview: “Mr. Basie said, ‘our blues will make your blues go away.’ Throughout Basie Swings The Blues The Count Basie Orchestra flows the album together with both mood-altering rhythms and horn exclamation points.”
Shemekia Copeland, Keb Mo, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Bettye LeVette, Charlie Musselwhite, George Benson and more do a vocal tune and play.
Trumpeter Scotty Barnhart has led the band since 2013, their 6th leader since Basie died in ‘84, and they’ve now earned 3 Grammy nominations under his direction. The Count Basie Orchestra has been in ~continuous business since 1936! Orchestra’s website ; Discogs
The video is the band swingin’ the blues from 1941. To record these guys with modern techniques….
The Count Basie Orchestra, Basie Swings The Blues, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
This is on Jazz Best Albums 2023, Grammy Jazz 2023 and Big Band 2023, at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎