From his earliest days in territory bands in the Southwest, Count Basie had a secret: How to make a collection of instrumentalists generate rhythmic thrust so irresistible that no listener's foot could remain motionless. Basie's swing was the opposite of tense. Relaxed is what it was, and powerful. Through five and a half decades, Basie never lost the ability to infect a band with his swing magic. This edition of his swing machine, recorded just a couple of years before his death, is evidence of the continuing force of that magic.

Way Out Basie, St. Louis Blues, Beaver Junction, Lester Leaps In, Blues for the Barbecue, I Don't Know Yet, Ain't That Something, Jumpin' at the Woodside

with Bob Summers, Sonny Cohn, Dale Carley, Chris Albert, Bill Hughes, Dennis Wilson, Grover Mitchell, Mitchell "Booty" Wood, Kenny Hing, Eric Dixon, Johnny Williams, Danny Turner, Bobby Plater, Freddie Green, James Leary, Gregg Field