Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings

Williams, Joe with the Count Basie Orchestra

album cover

All Right, OK, This Wins

When Joe Williams took over for Jimmy Rushing as the singer in a retooled 1954 edition of the Count Basie band, some longtime fans were worried. After all, nobody in all of jazz or blues had the steamrolling power of Rushing. The lanky Williams (1918–1999), who told one interviewer he spent his twenties playing baseball and goofing around, couldn't touch his predecessor on that score. But he did have something else—a buoyant and refined style, a way of phrasing that nicely complemented the barreling brawn of the Basie band. Where Rushing would reach out and grab listeners, Williams used a suave cosmopolitan cool to lure them in. Still, as Williams recalled years later, this didn't help him win fans among Basie loyalists immediately. "It took them years before they finally decided, 'So it isn't Jimmy Rushing.'"

This is Williams's first recording with Basie. It's also his career peak, and a nearperfect exhibition of the band-singer art. It starts with a crackling, high-energy update of Williams's first signature song with Basie, "Every Day I Have the Blues." Arranged by the great Ernie Wilkins, the chart goes against most bigband-with-vocal conventions: The band starts with several choruses of simple blues, building anticipation for more than a minute and a half before Williams enters. The brass is so hot there's no need for vocal fireworks, but Williams drops some anyway—spine-chilling adlibs that test the agility of his rich, buttery baritone. By his last chorus, when he really lets loose, you can tell Williams is awed by this hard-swinging band, and doing what he can to keep up.

Actually, that admiration is audible throughout Sings/Swings. Williams approaches "Teach Me Tonight" the way a Basie soloist would—as a test of gentlemanly restraint, catching the tune's ribald possibilities without ever veering into salaciousness. He bounces through "All Right, OK, You Win" in a glib and playful mood, and when he slows down a bit, to render the bluesy "Please Send Me Someone to Love," Williams makes like he's nearly given up on the romance business. Basie's crew follows him (or maybe pushes him) right to the brink of despair, empathizing with that pain while wringing every last musical possibility from it.

Genre: Vocals
Released: 1955, Clef
Key Tracks: "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Teach Me Tonight," "All Right, OK, You Win."
Catalog Choice: Presenting Joe Williams with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra
Next Stop: Jimmy Rushing: Jimmy Rushing Sings the Blues
After That: Jimmy Witherspoon: The Spoon Concerts
Book Pages: 863–864