Cheap On Basie's Bandstand (Music) (Richard Groove Holmes) Price

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Customer Reviews of On Basie's Bandstand

It sounds like he's been listening to a lot of early Jimmy Smith and the energy is incredible.
He plays some nice tunes too.

This is one to get. A thrilling document of how it was back in the day, back in the club.

Off the tracks.
I've never been a big Holmes' fan--his registrations in the post-Jimmy Smith era seemed awfully retro and restricted at a time when Charles Earland and Larry Young were coming up with new sounds and McGriff was at least mixing them up. Moreover, Groove's bass lines were no match for Big John Patton's or Donald Patterson's. On the other hand, I've never heard a lounge organist go after it like Holmes does on this "live" session, recorded at Basie's Harlem night club in the late 60's. The tempos are furiously, even insanely, fast on both "Indiana" and "Rifftide," and Groove plays chorus after chorus like a man possessed--or a demon on speed.

Although no train wreck occurs, you can't help but feel some sympathy for the drummer, George Randall, who falters but finishes. The rhythmic feel reminds me of "Bags and Trane," a session on which Connie Kay is always slightly behind the beat set by bassist Paul Chambers. I was rooting for Randall all the way, long after he'd abandoned the pointless task of trying to locate his hi-hat on the off-beats. This is Groove's groove, and he's strong enough to insure that he has his way. It's also at once exhilarating and punishing music, the relentless and merciless groove of a killer player. I can't take too much of it at a sitting, and I don't dare put it on while my wife is in the house. This is music for the big boys, best saved for a night on the town.