Ellington At Newport 1956

Frankly, I tend to agree with the reviewers who think there's simply too much ambiance noises and announcements collected here; perhaps the earlier studio dominated version was not such a bad idea?
But, than again, for as Ellington fan(atic)s it is absolutely essential to know all the fascinating details from the booklet and to hear how it all sounded at the spot...

This is not only highly pleasant but also historical album, although (I tend to agree with that as well) the band actually had better nights; Gonsalves' showcase is the only musically remarkable spot. But (another but), an B+ performance from Ellington's band is worth an "A" grade in any other band's book, so this is the right album to buy if you're already initiated into the Ellingtonia treasure.
The beginners might start with Duke Ellington: Blues in Orbit (Columbia Jazz Masterpieces) or, for instance, Ellington Uptown...

Not just the famous solo, the REAL Newport concert lives up to it's legend in every way. And the CD engineers have made it sound indeed like a genuine time capsule to yesterday-when giants did walk the earth. (To even concieve of taking two surviving recordings of a 50 year old jazz concert and creating TRUE STEREO) is true genius, and to actually be able to pull it off... They turned an abomination into pure gold. Should be in the collection of every jazz and/or blues fan. So it has a few bum notes.. big deal, it's a LIVE recording of a genuine event of historical and legendary proportions.

I love best the many popular ballads that Ellington wrote, like "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me "and many others. This recordings features other compositions for instruments, mostly the whole band, and they are not limited in duration due to the LP format, and some of them run quite long, almost mini-symphonies, with many extended solos from Johnny Hodges and others.
There are no romantic ballads, no vocals, but excellent big band jazz.

Perhaps that isn't a totally fair statement but rock and roll meant the end of the big band era. Here the Ellington band got back together after a short hiatus and produced some great music. I like the Newport Suite and the standards. Jimmy Hamilton, an underrated clarinetist, is very impressive. And of course, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Clark Terry and Britt Woodman contribute great solos. Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue is exciting but the solo by Paul Gonsalves has always been overrated. If you want to hear a great extended tenor sax solo in concert, listen to Rahsaan Roland Kirk on Perdido with Charles Mingus at Carnegie Hall. This aside, there is much to like here and things were never the same again.

I've owned this record ("record" - what an old-fashioned word!), in some form or another, for about thirty-five years. And today is Duke's birthday anniversary, and Diminuendo and Crescendo was on the radio, and I listened. And the goosebumps came, and the tears of joy and emotion still flowed. The sense of occasion is matched by the magnificence of the performance - one of the greatest ever performances by the greatest band of all time. And, by the way, a masterpiece composition which did not receive its due on the original recording. What is NOT great here? Some of the highpoints: Jimmy Woode's pedal points in Diminuendo, Hodges' fills in Crescendo, the strutting Trombone section of Woodman, Jackson and Sanders - a miracle of section playing. Duke's jabs and fills (of course!), Woodyard in what is possibly the highpoint of his career, Cat Anderson taking us home at the end. Oh - and Paul Gonsalves! This performance is the apotheosis of everything from the wildest New Orleans Street Parade to the wailingest Albert Ayler collective avant-gospel freakout - and all what is in between. If you don't have this...well, why DON'T you have this?