DEBORAH SILVER, Basie Rocks!

Boasting a two-word title that whets the whistles of jazz/big band fans and classic rock lovers alike, multi-genre vocal interpreter extraordinaire Deborah Silver’s epic, expansively arranged and joyous (not to mention, star-studded) Basie Rocks! celebrates the 90th Anniversary of the ever-enduring, ever swinging and boisterous Count Basie Orchestra, now early in its second decade under the powerful leadership of Scotty Barnhart.

It pairs the bold, brash classic ensemble and Silver – whom Quincy Jones, perhaps understating the matter, once called “the real deal” – with producer Steve Jordan, a powerhouse drummer whose resume extends from The Blues Brothers to the Stones’ last album and tour. fom the raucous, Latin-fired romp through The Rolling Stone’s “Paint it Black” (featuring an intense, scorching solo by trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval through a barn burning (after a slow, reflective start) twist on Joe Walsh’s rock life excess classic “Life’s Been Good,” the 11 track, 52-minute genre-fusing program also celebrates just over ten years since Silver first graced the jazz world with her debut album Pure Silver. Listening to all her subsequent, exquisitely arranged works through the Great American songbook, fans could never have guessed that interpreting these gems from “the soundtrack of her life” was on her creative bucket list for years.

Alternately rocking and breezing soulfully and slyly through arrangements by Barnhart, John Clayton, Andy Farber and Kris Johnson she and the CBO journey through the wonderlands of The Beatles and McCartney (“A Hard Day’s Night,” “Band on the Run”), Elton John (a too hip for the room take on “Bennie and the Jets”), the Steve Miller Band (a snazzy, soaring “Fly Like An Eagle”) and The Police (a silky “Every Breath You Take”).

As if those weren’t compelling enough, some of the album’s greatest moments come from Silver’s duets with Kurt Elling (turning the R&B and new wave classic “Tainted Love” into a challenging romantic conversation), Trombone Shorty (a harmony-filled slow stomp through “Joy to the World”) and none other than Peter Frampton, who contributes a fuzzy blues guitar solo to a sensual twist on “Baby I Love Your Way.” This set is an ear-popper from start to finish!