Count Basie & his Orchestra – 88 Basie Street (LP, Analogue Productions)

One of the pieces on this album is called ‘The Blues Machine,’ which could stand as a description of the big band Count Basie operated for half a century. In the 1983 edition, Basie molded the talents of a mixture of veterans and relative youngsters to produce the immediately identifiable Basie sound and spirit.Sam Nestico’s arrangements, so vital to the band in Basie’s final years, are featured on four tracks. On the remaining two, Basie heads up a small unit with saxophonists Chris Woods and Kenny King, the rapidly developing young trumpeter Bob Summers, and guitar wizard Joe Pass.Mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tape, and pressed at Quality Record Pressings for optimal sound quality, this Analogue Productions 180-gram reissue is everything jazz fans expect from an audiophile reissue.