It don't mean a thing...

if it ain't got that swing. Caught the Count Basie Orchestra last night at the Summerwind concert series. Man, they did swing. This music is timeless. These arrangements could have been penned yesterday. Great musicianship, flawless execution, incredible timing makes for good music in any era. These cats played with power, sensitivity, swing, improvisation. Drummer Butch Miles kicked the whole thing ahead with a Buddy Rich-like performance. The band played extremely tight as they belted out the old Count Basie Orchestra arrangements. Soloists marched one by one from their positions on the grandstand to front-stage to blow some incredible solos. Just great music.

Sadly, the concert was very poorly attended, partly due to the severe weather forcasts (actually the rain held off, and it was a nice cool evening), and mostly because of a lack of popularity for this genre. Too bad. This music deserves to be heard.