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Title – Basie Rocks!
Artist – The Count Basie Orchestra with Deborah Silver
For those unaware, “BASIE ROCKS!” re-imagines timeless Rock classics from artists including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Elton John, and others, while featuring special guest Trombone Shorty and collaborations with several highly-respected jazz musicians including Arturo Sandoval, Bill Frisell, Kurt Elling, and George Coleman.
Two-time #1 Billboard chart-topping artist Deborah Silver’s 2020 album, Glitter & Grits produced by industry legend Ray Benson, reinforces Silver’s immense versatility as an artist and landed in the top 15 on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz chart.
Her earlier album, 2016’s “The Gold Standards,” produced by Steve Tyrell was an out-of-the-box smash reaching #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Album chart while landing at #1 on the Billboard Heatseeker Album chart and the #2 spot on the overall Billboard Jazz Album chart.
Rocker/producer Steve Jordan describes this project as “where classic rock meets classic big band” and not just any big band … it’s the 2024 Grammy winner for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, The Count Basie Orchestra!
This masterfully sculpted, and wholly impassioned new recording opens on a simply sensational Paint It, Black (ft. Arturo Sandoval and Pedrito Martínez) and then we get a lushly swinging Bennie And The Jets, a yearning that threads throughout Baby, I Love Your Way (ft. Peter Frampton), before both the all-encompassing Tainted Love (ft. Kurt Elling, Steve Jordan and John Clayton) and a strident Band On The Run are brought forth.
Continuing to vibrantly swing through some of rocks most enduring songs, along next is a magnificently propellent A Hard Day’s Night (ft. Monte Croft) which is itself backed by the finger-snapper Joy To The World (ft. Trombone Shorty), the fervently-charming Fly Like An Eagle (ft. Bill Frisell), a sultry rendition of Every Breath You Take (ft. George Coleman), the set rounding out on a bluesy Old Time Rock & Roll (ft. Wycliffe Gordon and Herlin Riley), closing on the explosively melodicious Life’s Been Good.
Deborah Silver has performed at venues around the U.S. including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blues Alley, 54 Below, Catalina Jazz Club, The Colony’s Royal Room and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, both in Palm Beach, FL As she now gears up for the early 2025 release of “BASIE ROCKS!!,” she’ll be performing live with her quartet and plans are in the works for her to do select live performances with the Count Basie Orchestra, in conjunction with the album release.