Basie in 1979: Still Swinging with Friends
Get Together finds Basie doing what he'd always done best—leading a band that swings without breaking a sweat.
By 1979, Count Basie had been leading bands for decades, and Get Together is a straightforward record that shows him still very much in command. This is a late-career session, the kind of album that doesn't announce itself with fanfare but simply delivers what fans expected: tight ensemble playing, solid solos, and the kind of groove that Basie's bands had perfected long before. There's nothing experimental here, nothing that tries to prove anything. It's a working band doing its job, which is exactly what you want from Basie at this point.
The album sits comfortably in Basie's later catalog—not a reinvention, not a peak moment, but a solid showing of a bandleader who hadn't lost his touch. If you're already familiar with Basie's essential work from earlier decades, this is worth hearing. It won't change your understanding of what he did, but it shows the organization and swing were still there. The band plays with the kind of ease that only comes from years of working together, and there's real joy in that efficiency.
Start with April in Paris (1955) or The Atomic Mr. Basie (1957) if you want to hear Basie at his peak. Those records capture the orchestra at its most inventive and vital. Get Together is for after you've heard those—a reminder that even in his later years, Basie could still deliver the goods. It's the sound of a professional outfit doing what it knows how to do, and there's honor in that.
