4 Originals: Chairman Of The Board (1958)/ Memories Ad-Lib / Sing Along With Basie / Basie In London

"In between many collaborative albums, "Chairman Of The Board" (1959) was a rare chance for the orchestra to perform on its own, and listeners to hear how powerful the band could be when its concentration was undiverted. "Memories Ad-Lib" (1958) is an unusual session, featuring Basie exclusively on organ accompanying Joe Williams' vocals over a dozen numbers, mostly standards. Although Basie's recordings on organ were sporadic, his style is not at all different from the one he utilized at the piano, filling in the holes and providing just enough backing for his very fine singer. Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross had combined their voices to recreate the Count Basie Orchestra on their debut release "Sing A Song of Basie". For the follow-up "Sing Along..." (1958), they actually had the services of the Basie big band itself. The trio sings ten Basie classics - quite fascinating to hear. "Basie In London", recorded in 1956 in Gothenburg(!) represents the Basie band in a classic time period." (Allmusic)