The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards is an album by vocalist Joe Williams and pianist/bandleader Count Basie and His Orchestra recorded in 1956 and released on the Verve label.Edwards, D. & Callahan, M. Discography of the Verve, Clef, Down Home and Norgran Labels, accessed November 20, 2015Kitora, R., Basie Discography, accessed November 20, 2015Verve Records Catalog: Popular 2000 series, accessed November 20, 2015Big Band Paradise, accessed November 20, 2015 It was Williams' second album with Basie following Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings.
Reception
AllMusic awarded the album 3 stars.Allmusic listing, accessed November 20, 2015
Track listing "Thou Swell" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 2:19 "There Will Never Be Another You" (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) – 2:48 "Love Is Here to Stay" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 3:38 "'S Wonderful" (Gershwin, Gershwin) – 2:35 "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) – 2:24 "Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)" (Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby) – 3:54 "Singin' in the Rain" (Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed) – 2:25 "I'm Beginning to See the Light" (Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges) – 3:04 "A Fine Romance" (Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern) – 2:28 "Come Rain or Come Shine" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 3:58 "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" (Clarence Gaskill, Jimmy McHugh) – 2:38 "This Can't Be Love" (Hart, Rodgers) – 2:32 Recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, CA, on April 28, 1956 (tracks 2, 3 & 6–9) and May 1, 1956 (tracks 1, 4, 5 & 10–12)
Personnel Joe Williams – vocals Count Basie – piano Wendell Culley, Reunald Jones, Thad Jones, Joe Newman – trumpet Henry Coker, Bill Hughes, Benny Powell – trombone Marshall Royal – alto saxophone, clarinet Bill Graham – alto saxophone Frank Wess – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet Frank Foster – tenor saxophone, clarinet Charlie Fowlkes – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet Freddie Green – guitar Eddie Jones – bass Sonny Payne – drums Buddy Bregman – arranger, conductor
References