#9 Count Basie, "Atomic Mr. Basie"

Wasn't sure what to expect with Count Basie as I didn't know his work really at all. What I got was kind of big band mixed with the sounds of the Jetsons theme. Neil Hefti, who would go on to write tv themes such as that for Batman and The Odd Couple was the arranger and that's probably where most of the flavor of this album came from. It's generally a lot of fun, upbeat and fits in with the late 50s early 60s just fine. Well worth a listen. I'm out of order as I missed seeing the Crickets' album at #8 but I'll go back now and listen to that. Interesting to hear this kind of music so much when Rock and Roll is really just busting out all over the place about this time, which is 1957. Thought there would be more of that.