Jazz
Recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, Rhode Island on July 7, 1956
Duke Ellington (piano)
Ray Nance (vocals, trumpet); Jimmy Grisson (vocals); Russell Procope (alto saxophone, clarinet); Johnny Hodges (alto saxophone); Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone); Jimmy Hamilton (tenor saxophone, clarinet); Harry Carney (baritone saxophone); John Cook, Clark Terry, William "Cat" Anderson (trumpet); John Sanders, Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman (trombone); Jimmy Woode (bass); Sam Woodyard (drums)
Producer: George Avakian.
Reissue producer: Phil Schaap.
Includes liner notes by George Avakian and Phil Schaap.
Digitally remastered by Phil Schaap (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).
What makes this classic recording endure is the monumental level of intensity the band brings to each number. Ellington, in speaking of the band's competitive nature, recalled that they were all in a particularly fesity mode for this performance. That crackling energy translates to every number, and even extended to Count Basie's original drummer Jo Jones, who sat grinning from ear to ear in the front row, so moved by the swing of it all that he beat time for the band with a rolled up copy of The Christian Science Monitor.
From Johnny Hodges' ultra-suave "Jeep's Blues," to Paul Gonsalves' epic tenor marathon on "Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue" (which set the crowd to dancing and screaming), ELLINGTON AT NEWPORT is one of the really great big band recordings.
One of the greatest live jazz festival recordings ever has gotten better, and more interesting as well, with this 1999 reissue, a result of the kind of effort that most record companies normally won't even discuss. Ellington's original 1956 Newport album was his best-selling long-player ever, and re-established him, after a two-year drought in the wake of his unsuccessful stay at Capitol, as a vitally popular jazz artist, perceived as worth courting by the major labels. But that record was, in keeping with Columbia's standard operating proceedure of the day, a cut-and-paste job made up of studio re-recordings of the festival's repertory. The producers of the 1999 double-CD reissue, containing 20 tracks, have assembled the complete live performance in true, real stereo as well as the studio-produced tracks. The result is the first complete consideration of the actual Newport performance, as well as a complete account of the studio-generated portions of the original release. The highlight is an extraordinarily vivid account of Paul Gonsalves' legendary 27-chorus tenor sax solo on "Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue." The latter ends Disc One, and Disc Two gives a vivid account of the aftermath of Gonsalves' moment of glory and finishes the live set. The concert portion is followed by the original LP's studio-generated fake-live productions, which aren't as exciting as the live renditions, but are worth hearing.
--- Bruce Eder, All Music Guide |
