Critic's Review
arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide
This outstanding tribute to Kansas City's premiere hot bandleader begins with "Moten Swing," recorded in 1932 near the end of "the Moten Dynasty" with Count Basie at the piano and Ben Webster blowing the tenor saxophone. After this sensible and very convincing opener, the listener is treated to a chronological survey of Moten's exciting and influential recorded works. Only one example of the earliest Moten groups is provided here. Recorded in St. Louis in September of 1923, "Elephant Stomp" has solos by cornetist Lammar Wright, trombonist Thamon Hayes, Woodie Walder doing funny things with a clarinet mouthpiece, and a scribbled banjo solo by Sam Tall. This prefaces a more carefully arranged and tightly presented series of records cut in Chicago between December of 1926 and the summer of 1929. They are joyously hot performances designed for dancers and drinkers. "Let's Get It" features a remarkably subtle banjo solo by Buster Berry, and nephew Buster Moten executes marvelous runs on an accordion during "Moten Blues." The next phase of this band's development involved the compositional and arranging skills of pianist William Basie, a friend of Fats Waller's who came all the way from Red Bank, NJ. Bill Basie was designated as "Count" by Moten, who teasingly referred to him as "that no-account Basie." With Basie's arrival, the Moten orchestra took on a smoother, stronger aspect that speaks of stylistic developments that would soon develop in the jazz world, largely thanks to what Basie (and Ellington) would accomplish on phonograph records, over the radio, and live in front of the people nationwide.
