Count Basie

It is fortunate that impresario Norman Granz arranged to have a number of Montreux Jazz Festival concerts by some of his favorite artists videotaped, though it took over a quarter century for some of them to be commercially issued on DVD. This 1975 all-star jam with Milt Jackson, Johnny Griffin, Roy Eldridge, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and Louis Bellson is well photographed, though the audio is slightly muddy with bass and drums a bit too prominent. There is nothing wrong with the four selections heard in this set, though Griffin and Jackson's solos are more memorable than the blistering offerings of the feisty Eldridge near the end of his career. Basie, as always, is a master of economy at the piano, believing less is more, though he shows off a bit in "Lester Leaps In." Obviously, a good time was had by all, both on the stage and in the audience. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide