The Count Basie Orchestra kick it back at Ronnie’s after five year hiatus

It’s five years since Scotty Barnhart’s Basie band last graced Ronnie’s bandstand, Covid and its travails having ensued, so boy, didn’t this audience whoop with joy to see them back. Just in from Helsinki and bound for a week at Tokyo’s Blue Note Club, their two-nights here gave the club the best possible reason to repeat the booking. Four shows: four full houses. 

With nine holdovers from last time but bolstered now by the presence of top lead trumpeter Frank Greene and trombone lead Dr Isrea Butler, the ensemble hit hard and strong from the off. Opening with Quincy Jones’ chart for ‘This Could Be The Start’, that familiar surging power, let’s call it ‘Eighteen Men Swinging’ suggested that all was still well in Basie-land, with Doug Lawrence’s bracing tenor to point the way. Barnhart is avuncular on stage, chatty even, cueing the sections, soloing himself only occasionally, happy to tell us that it was 42 years since he first came to Ronnie’s – who knew? – and remarking that the Basie band (via its many manifestations) would be 90 years old in 2025.

What better reason then than to dig deep into the back catalogue with John Clayton’s ‘Blues For Stephanie,’ featuring a lengthy piano intro by Reggie Thomas and a strong bass line, rhythm guitar alongside, drums kicking, the dynamics just right, as the riffs surged to and fro, Barnhart playing some tricky, plunger-muted trumpet figures. This ahead of Neal Hefti’s purring ‘Has Anyone Seen Basie’ with decent trumpet from John Moore Jr, ahead of Quincy’s ‘Pleasingly Plump’, with its soft, languid saxophone phrasing, well marshalled by long-term lead-alto Dave Glasser, later featured on ‘Basie Power’ in a refreshing joust with fellow-alto Stantawn Kendrick, the best new band soloist on this showing. Kendrick also handled the classic ballad spot with QJ’s version of ‘What Kind Of Fool’ with suitable grace and aplomb. As ever, it came time for the band vocalist, no longer Carmen Bradford but the lusty-voiced Denise Thimes now, a confident if generic amalgam of Dinah Washington and Carmen McRae. Her two spots wowed this audience but not me.

It’s the ensemble itself which is king with the CBO these days: always well-drilled, the tightness of the sections a standout, the riches of the repertoire ever-present, with every man a soloist, some more memorably than others. Name an orchestra that could close its set with ‘Whirlybird’, taken at projectile-speed, baritone soloist Josh Lee rampant, and have this cheering crowd on their feet. Vintage Basie: good to have you back, CBO.