First Time! The Count Meets the Duke

First Time! The Count Meets the Duke is an album by American pianists, composers and bandleaders Duke Ellington and Count Basie with their combined Orchestras recorded and released on the Columbia label in 1961.^[1]

First Time! The Count Meets the Duke
Studio album by Duke Ellington and Count Basie
Released	1961
Recorded	July 6, 1961
Studio	30th Street Studio (New York)
Genre	Jazz
Length	40:58 (original release) 73:43 (1999 expanded and remastered edition)
Label	Columbia
Producer	Teo Macero
Duke Ellington chronology
Paris Blues (1961) First Time! The Count Meets the Duke (1961) The Girl's Suite and The Perfume Suite (1961)
Count Basie chronology
Basie at Birdland (1961) First Time! The Count Meets the Duke (1961) The Legend (1961)

On stereo releases of the album, Basie's band is featured on the left channel and Ellington's on the right.

Reception

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars calling it "a very successful and surprisingly uncrowded encounter. On most selections Ellington and Basie both play piano (their interaction with each other is wonderful) and the arrangements allowed the stars from both bands to take turns soloing".^[2]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Down Beat (Original LP release)	^[3]
AllMusic	^[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[5]

Track listing

All compositions by Duke Ellington except as indicated

1. "Battle Royal" - 5:33
2. "To You" (Thad Jones) - 3:53
3. "Take the "A" Train (Billy Strayhorn) - 3:46
4. "Corner Pocket" [a.k.a. "Until I Met You"] (Freddie Green, Donald Wolf) - 4:53
5. "Wild Man" [a.k.a. "Wild Man Moore"] - 6:20
6. "Segue in C" (Frank Wess) - 8:22
7. "B D B" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 4:43
8. "Jumpin' at the Woodside" (Count Basie) - 3:09

1999 CD Reissue Bonus Tracks

9. "One More Once" - 3:25
10. "Take the "A" Train" [alternate take] (Strayhorn) - 5:50
11. "Jumpin' at the Woodside" [alternate take] (Basie) - 3:14
12. "B D B" [alternate take] (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 4:30
13. "Blues in Hoss' Flat" (Basie, Frank Foster) - 3:13
14. "Wild Man" [alternate take] - 5:55
15. "Battle Royal" [alternate take] - 6:32

Personnel

• Duke Ellington, Count Basie – piano
• Cat Anderson, Willie Cook, Eddie Mullens, Ray Nance, Sonny Cohn, Lennie Johnson, Thad Jones, Snooky Young - trumpet
• Lou Blackburn, Lawrence Brown, Henry Coker, Quentin Jackson, Benny Powell - trombone
• Juan Tizol - valve trombone and tambourine on Wild Man
• Jimmy Hamilton - clarinet, tenor saxophone
• Johnny Hodges - alto saxophone
• Russell Procope, Marshal Royal - alto saxophone, clarinet
• Frank Wess - alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute
• Paul Gonsalves, Frank Foster, Budd Johnson - tenor saxophone
• Harry Carney, Charlie Fowlkes - baritone saxophone
• Freddie Green - guitar
• Aaron Bell, Eddie Jones - bass
• Sam Woodyard, Sonny Payne - drums

References

1. A Duke Ellington Panorama accessed May 17, 2010
2. Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed May 17, 2010
3. Down Beat: May 10, 1962 vol. 29, no. 10
4. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 69. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 440. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.