Band leader Count Basie always had a good ear for talent, both instrumental and vocal. Billie Holiday and Jimmy Rushing both sang with the band. Another of the great Basie singers was Joe Williams with whom the orchestra recorded Alright, Okay, You Win on this date in 1955.

Joe Williams was born in Georgia and grew up on the south side of Chicago. At the age of 19 he was singing as a solo act and performed with Jimmy Noone, Les Hite, Coleman Hawkins and Lionel Hampton before coming to the Count Basie Orchestra in 1954. He stayed on until 1961. Joe’s second album with Basie was “Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings” for Clef Records which included Alright, Okay, You Win as well as another big hit for the band, Every Day I Have the Blues.

Alright, Okay, You Win was composed by Sid Wyche and Mayme Watts and had been recorded previous to the Basie/Williams collaboration. Wyche also wrote Elvis Presley’s hit A Big Hunk o’ Love and Talk That Talk which was a hit for Jackie Wilson. Additional performances of Alright, Okay, You Win have been recorded by Peggy Lee, Bria Skonberg and the Modernaires.

Here is a link to the version Joe Williams recorded with Count Basie in 1955:

"ALRIGHT, OKAY, YOU WIN"