Deborah Silver teamed up with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra to record an album of classic rock covers. Produced by Grammy winner and current Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan, the album contains reinterpretations of hits from some of the biggest names in rock history. The result of their hard work, Basie Rocks!, will hit record stores and digital streaming platforms tomorrow (May 2).
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Ahead of the album’s release, Silver and Jordan sat down with American Songwriter to discuss Basie Rocks!. They looked back on production highlights, the song selection process, and much more.
[RELATED: Peter Frampton Lends His Guitar Talents to a New Cover of One of His Classic Songs]
How Steve Jordan Got Involved with Basie Rocks!
“My wife and I are creative artistic directors for the Jazz Foundation of America, and Deborah Silver is a wonderful donor to the foundation. I met through that, through some events. It was her desire to do a jazz album in the future when I first met her,” Steve Jordan explains when asked how he got involved with the project. “ A few years later, she came to me and said, ‘I would really like to do a jazz album. I don’t care how we do it. I really want to step into that realm,’” he adds.
Silver has released three solo albums. Jordan also knew she performed in the cabaret world and had done some big band music with the legendary arranger Charlie Calello. So, he decided to pair her with the best big band in the world. “First of all, when it’s a collaboration, not all the weight is on you to carry the record. That’s number one,” Jordan explains. “Any kind of collaboration with the Count Basie Orchestra is a win-win. So, after a lot of deliberation, she decided to take my suggestion of doing a collaborative album with CBO.”
Why Deborah Silver Decided to Blend Big Band and Classic Rock
Deborah Silver knew she wanted to record an album. At the same time, she knew she wanted to do something outside of the box. That’s how she decided to cover rock classics with a big band. “I knew I wanted to do something fresh and unexpected with my next album. So many songs from the Great American Songbook have already been reimagined—and I’ve had the joy of doing that myself on two albums, The Gold Standards and Glitter & Grits,” she explains. ”This time, I wanted to explore a different genre, but still bring that timeless jazz sensibility to it. I decided to honor the soul of these classic rock songs while giving them a new twist that feels both fresh and familiar,” Silver adds.
“I started wondering: what would it sound like if we added a little swing or big band flair to songs like ’Bennie and the Jets’ or ’Fly Like an Eagle?’ That curiosity sparked the entire concept,” Silver says. “It really opened the door for me creatively—with all of the arrangers, the producer, and the entire Count Basie Orchestra.”
Basie Rocks was also a bit of a family affair. Silver’s son got involved in the early stages. “My son, Spencer Silver (who is releasing his first single as a country artist), is well-versed in rock and so many styles of music and actually inspired one of the arrangements—he had the idea to give one of our songs a Peggy Lee ’ Fever’- style vibe,” she says. “We brought that concept to life on my duet with Kurt Elling: a new take on the old Soft Cell song, ’Tainted Love.’”
Why Choose “Paint It Black”?
A collection of rock and roll classics wouldn’t be complete without a cut from the Rolling Stones’ catalog. Steve Jordan currently plays drums for the iconic band. So, Deborah Silver asked him to pick a Stones song for the album, and he landed on “Paint It Black.”
“’Paint It Black’ can be done, as we did it, in a different way because it has the kind of Bollero overtones. That gave us a lot more room, musically, to be imaginative,” Jordan reveals. “John Clayton did an outstanding arrangement. It was a great vehicle for the orchestra. Deborah did a great job on that because you don’t want to do something cliche. It’s a tricky thing. We had to be very careful about what we were doing,” he adds.
The Most Enjoyable Thing About Recording Basie Rocks!
Both Deborah Silver and Steve Jordan shared their favorite part of the creative process that led to Basie Rocks!. “One of the most enjoyable parts was the collaboration,” Silver says. “Working with the incredible musicians of the Count Basie Orchestra—along with the director, Scotty Barnhart, the phenomenal arrangers, and producer Steve Jordan—felt like pure creative magic. Everyone brought so much passion and expertise to the table—it was inspiring to be surrounded by that level of talent. I walked away with so many wonderful new friends!”
Jordan looked back on the recorded process and recalled two of his favorite moments. “I got to play on one tune, which was really cool. Really, any excuse to play with the Count Basie Orchestra is hard to complain about. I played on ‘Tainted Love.’ John Clayton played bass on that. So, I got to play with John Clayton, and that was a thrill. The late, great Bob Cranshaw’s upright bass was used. So, there were a lot of sentimental experiences on that,” he recalls.
“The band was so outstanding, and I know it raised the bar for Deborah to execute. So, she got stuff out of herself that she didn’t know she had. But that’s what happens when you work with people on a certain level. It raises your game. It was an escalation of execution,” Jordan says.
“When we did ‘Baby I Love Your Way.’ John Clayton did another great arrangement on that. It wasn’t my suggestion to have Peter Frampton play on it. But Deborah and Steve Leeds thought, ‘let’s give it a shot and see what happens.’ Peter heard it and loved it and was completely thrilled by it. It pleased me to no end that he really loved it,” Jordan recalls. “That was a surprise to me. I didn’t think that was going to happen. But, he loved it and he played great on it. I saw him afterwards at an event we were both on and we talked about it. He was like, ‘This is what I dreamed of the song being when I wrote it.’”
Deborah Silver’s Favorite Song on the Album
“I genuinely love them all,” Deborah Silver says of the songs on her new album. “If I had to pick, I’d say, ‘Baby I Love Your Way’ holds a special place in my heart,” she reveals. “I wanted to honor the original while also making it completely my own. It’s a song I’ve always connected with and loved since the early days of listening to Peter Frampton’s album,” she adds.
“It was a thrill to reinterpret it with the Count Basie Orchestra—but when Peter Frampton told me that I sang the song the way he heard it in his head when he was writing it, and that he would be happy to play guitar on it… Well, it doesn’t get any more special than that.”
Basie Rocks! will be available across digital streaming platforms tomorrow, May 2. For more information, visit Deborah Silver’s official website.
Featured Image Courtesy of Jensen Communications
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