Modern Art Orchestra’s Legendary Albums series presents the most important and unique albums of jazz literature, performed by MAO. By learning and playing these compositions and arrangements, the musicians are paying tribute to the jazz legends and are undergoing an intense process of musical improvement. The band absorbs the material of the original recordings, sticking to the arrangements, forms and compositional features. As improvisation is the blood of jazz, solos are invented by the players at the moment. Due to the respect shown towards the original conceptions of the legendary composers and the level of craftsmanship known from Modern Art Orchestra, the Legendary Albums series both brings you the essence of jazz tradition and guarantees a fresh musical experience.

Legendary Albums – Count Basie: Basie Straight Ahead

Count Basie has been a bandleader standing above trends and fashions, but jazz fans in Hungary haven’t always been well-informed about their favourites. It might surprise some people to read that the recording of Basie Straight Ahead was the first time that Sammy Nestico worked with the band, but from then on his arrangements have largely shaped the way the Basie band sounded. Interestingly, their collaboration only started in 1968, though Count Basie’s orchestra rose to world fame from the second half of the twenties. Arrangements of Nestico have since become a basic part of jazz schools nurturing a big band everywhere. But the special feature of this very album is that all the compositions have been penned by Nestico, not just the arrangements. This way he indeed contributed to streamlining the shape of the orchestra, without taking anything away from the overwhelming blues feeling of it.
Although the Modern Art Orchestra has defined itself as an ensemble which respects and cultivates the jazz tradition while playing contemporary music, it has not built up its own repertoire from the pieces by Basie and Ellington. They have produced a vast collection of their own original compositions. However they have always been aware of the fact, and have showcased it by keeping a couple of standards on their programme, that the works of these classic composers constitute the basis of the big band culture and that those pieces have not become evergreens by chance. This is the rational behind the complete big band line-up taking the stage this time, not just a combo launching the new series of the Legendary Albums season.