1965 · Album
Basie Picks the Winners
Recorded 1965 · Verve Records · Produced by Unverified — omitted
Basie Bets on the Horses and Wins
Basie takes the racetrack theme and runs with it, swinging easy and hitting the wire first.
The concept here is simple and kind of fun: Count Basie picks his favorite racehorses and names each track after one of them. It could have been a gimmick. It isn't. What saves it is that Basie and his orchestra were just too good at this point to let a novelty premise get in the way of solid, well-oiled big band swing. Basie Picks the Winners (1965) is not a career-defining record, but it doesn't need to be. It's a tight, professional, enjoyable album that shows why the Basie band was one of the most reliable working outfits in jazz throughout the 1960s.
Musically, this is the Basie formula doing what it always did well — relaxed tempos that still have plenty of momentum underneath, punchy brass, and a rhythm section that makes everything feel effortless. Basie's piano is characteristically sparse, dropping in just enough to steer the band without cluttering up the arrangement. The tracks move along without overstaying their welcome, and there's a breezy confidence to the whole thing that makes it easy to put on and just let run.
If you're coming to this expecting something adventurous or experimental, wrong album. But if you want a record that captures a great band in comfortable, confident form, this delivers. It sits comfortably alongside the other mid-60s Basie catalog records — competent, swinging, and more fun than its relative obscurity would suggest. Think of it as a good midweek listen rather than a desert island disc. Basie picked his horses well enough here, and the band runs a clean race from start to finish.
Who's playing
Wyatt Rutherbass
Count Basiepiano
Freddie Greenguitar
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davissaxophone
Eric Dixonsaxophone
Charlie Fowlkessaxophone
Bobby Platersaxophone
Marshall Royalsaxophone
Al Aaronstrumpet
Sonny Cohntrumpet
Wallace Davenporttrumpet
Sam Nototrumpet
Henderson Chamberstrombone
Al Greytrombone
Bill Hughestrombone
Grover Mitchelltrombone
Where next?
More by Count Basie
The Atomic Mr. Basie 1958
First Time! The Count Meets the Duke 1961
Arthur Prysock / Count Basie 1966
Sammy Davis & Count Basie: Our Shining Hour 1965
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time