Ellington At Newport 1956

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
When Duke Ellington took his orchestra to the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956, the band was in need of an uplift, some humongous event that would revitalize its image in the wake of bebop, hard bop, and so many more jazz currents. Ellington got the lift he needed when he called "Diminuendo in Blue" with set-closer "Crescendo in Blue" tacked on the end. Tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves got the nod from Ellington to segue from "Diminuendo" to "Crescendo," and he blew doors. With one rousing 27-chorus solo, Gonsalves blew a fever into the crowd and jump-started Ellingtonia for another generation. Trouble with all this is that the living document of the Newport show is almost fully manufactured, recorded in a studio with crowd madness dubbed in. So this two-CD historical correction is an awesome addition to the centennial-era reissues on Columbia (including Anatomy of a Murder, Such Sweet Thunder, First Time: Count Meets the Duke, and Black, Brown and Beige). The producers revisited the Newport gig after four decades because they discovered an extant Voice of America tape--the one whose microphone Gonsalves blew his solo into, and the VOA tape catches the whole Newport set in its organic glory. Alternately tender with layers of brushstroke orchestration and blazing with the band's well-seasoned tightness, this new Newport is one for the generalist and the Ellington completist. It's got the revived original gig as well as the original commercial release. And they make great siblings, illustrative of the live-event charm and the music industry's dogged labors in reinventing it on record. --Andrew Bartlett

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Customer reviews

review by: late-to-jazz musician date: 2009-01-03 rating:
Historic, but pretty average, recording
This recording is indispensable for Ellington fans, big band fans, and serious jazz music aficionados, but I think for the most part, the uneven recording quality and excessive tracks of pretty meaningless introductions, not to mention the riot quelling track, sort of miss the point and, I think, detract from the music. Sure, some of the solos are really hot, and the recording assures that the subtleties and intricacies of what was no doubt an epic performance are not lost, but still, how many times do we need to hear Duke's introduction? For me, the big selling point of this work is the liner notes, which are jam packed with photos, original liners, extensive musician and soloist listings, plus updated liners and session notes. I doubt there is an Ellington fan who wouldn't learn something by reading these notes once through. Long and short, I would say most casual fans can make do with the one CD set which eliminates most of the talking tracks and intros, but serious fans should go ahead and get this one. For pure music, this is not the greatest, but for jazz history and documentation, it is unsurpassed.

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review by: date: 2008-12-12 rating:
Ellington At Newport 1956
I would have been satisfied with the live content, as indicated by the title, on a single disc. Two discs with studio recordings duplicating the same titles and adding others was irritating and detracted from the ambience. I transferred the real stuff to a single separate disc for satisfactory listening.

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review by: date: 2008-02-26 rating:
Historical Ellington
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...

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review by: former Secretary, Columbus Blues Alliance date: 2007-11-22 rating:
WOW! Incredible to finally hear this!
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.


review by: Jazz Fan date: 2007-11-03 rating:
A great showcase for the Ellington orchestria
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.

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