The Atomic Mr. Basie

The Atomic Mr. Basie (originally called Basie, also known as E=MC2 and reissued in 1994 as The Complete Atomic Basie) is a 1958 album by Count Basie, featuring the song arrangements of Neal Hefti and the Count Basie Orchestra. Allmusic gave it 5 stars, reviewer Bruce Eder saying: "it took Basie's core audience and a lot of other people by surprise, as a bold, forward-looking statement within the context of a big-band recording." It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Will Fulford-Jones calling it "Basie's last great record." It was voted number 411 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

Recording
The tracks were recorded 21–22 October 1957. The tracks on the original release were all composed and arranged by Hefti. Part of the second day was used for recording tracks by Jimmy Mundy - "Silks and Satins" and "Sleepwalker's Serenade". It also featured recordings of "The Late, Late Show", which had been a hit for Dakota Staton that year, also likely arranged by Mundy. These additional tracks were released in 1994 on The Complete Atomic Basie.

Release
This was the first Basie album released by Roulette Records.

Reception
The album won Best Jazz Performance, Group and Best Performance by a Dance Band awards at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards.

The success of the album led to Basie, Hefti and producer Teddy Reig collaborating together again six months later to record Basie Plays Hefti.

Track listing
All tracks composed and arranged by Neal Hefti, except where indicated.

Personnel

 * Wendell Culley &mdash; trumpet
 * Snooky Young &mdash; trumpet
 * Thad Jones &mdash; trumpet
 * Joe Newman &mdash; trumpet
 * Henry Coker &mdash; trombone
 * Al Grey &mdash; trombone
 * Benny Powell &mdash; trombone
 * Marshal Royal &mdash; reeds
 * Frank Wess &mdash; reeds
 * Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis &mdash; reeds
 * Frank Foster &mdash; reeds
 * Charles Fowlkes &mdash; reeds
 * Count Basie &mdash; piano
 * Eddie Jones &mdash; bass
 * Freddie Green &mdash; guitar
 * Sonny Payne &mdash; drums
 * Joe Williams &mdash; vocals (track 16)
 * Neal Hefti &mdash; arrangements (tracks 1–11)
 * Jimmy Mundy &mdash; arrangements (tracks 12–14)