Volume 17 of the complete recordings of Count Basie and his Orchestra presented in chronological order, opens with the second half of the tracks made in mid-December 1953. It is futile to single out any of these tracks since all of them are simply wonderful: Neil Hefti"s charts suited Basie"s band of the time like a glove. Both "Bubbles" and "Softly With Feeling" are ample proof: terrific tunes played by a band full of great soloists but whose biggest assets were the ensembles, always played with relaxed perfection. Count Basie and his men were received in Europe with great enthusiasm by fans who had been waiting for almost two decades to hear a band they only knew from records.