Flight of the Foo Birds - arr. Neal Hefti (Jazz Ensemble Grade 5)Recorded by the Count Basie Big Band The 1950s were a particularly productive era for William "Count" Basie. After a period of musical and financial uncertainty in the late 1940s, his reformed big band (known informally as the New Testament band) put out a number of recordings that would achieve tremendous levels of critical and commercial acclaim. This version of the band contained not just a stable of legendary instrumental soloists, but also a book