Count Basie: Queer Street
Track
Queer Street
Group
Count Basie Orchestra
CD
Complete 1941-1951 Columbia Recordings
Musicians:
Count Basie (piano), Lucky Thompson (tenor sax), Joe Newman (trumpet), Harry "Sweets" Edison (trumpet), Freddie Green (guitar), Buddy Tate (tenor sax), Shadow Wilson (drums),
Ed Lewis, Al Killian (trumpets); George Matthews, Eli Robinson, Louis Taylor, Ted Donelly (trombones); Earl Warren, Jimmy Powell (alto sax), Rudy Rutherford (baritone sax), Rodney Richardson (bass)
.Recorded: New York, January 9, 1946
Rating: 94/100 (learn more)
Count Basie, photo by Herb Snitzer
Since the successful release of the Monk/Coltrane Carnegie Hall Concert in 2005, the underrated Shadow Wilson has received an increased amount of well-deserved commemoration. Wilson’s major musical collaborations were with Monk (T.S. Monk recalls his father saying that Wilson was his “favorite drummer”), altoist Sonny Stitt, and the Basie Orchestra. In this most famous of the Basie-Wilson tracks, Wilson sets up the band with great dynamic contrast, from whisper-soft timekeeping to extended, confident fills. The “must-hear” moment of the track comes at 2:45 with a two-measure drum break. As Buddy Rich proclaimed, “this is the most perfect drum break ever recorded.”
Reviewer: Eric Novod
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