A+
Well this is a brilliant album, although an exhausting one. It's kind of a cheat on the part of the compilers of the Book, really. The original album was roughly half composed of studio recordings overdubbed with artificial applause. Releases subsequent to the 1999 reissue combine a carefully pieced-together presentation of the original recording in full (and stereo) with the album as it was originally released. The Book concedes this, and recommends this later, truly megalithic edition as opposed to the original 1956 pastiche.
Anyway, fair enough. Apparently the reason for the studio recreation of some of the tracks is that Ellington felt his live performance of the "Festival Suite" wasn't up to his usual high standards. And listening to the album, the live version of this three part piece is a little underwhelming. The studio version, conversely, is almost too perfect. So it's good to have the two versions side by side to compare, so that you can experience the unhinged, raw live recording and the incredibly classy and smooth studio version. I also think a little bit of vanity on the Duke's part might have been at play - the studio recording features far more applause than the live version, which wasn't especially well-received on performance.
Putting technical considerations aside, this is a pretty magnificent album. It's not hard to see how it managed to revitalise Ellington's career. The most famous track on here is "Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue", which features Paul Gonsalves' remarkable 24-bar saxophone solo that had people dancing in the aisles, and which is presented live and in full on both the original and the rerelease. It's pretty great, really, listening to this album, to hear how the audience's attitude changes as the setlist progresses. Before the solo, things are relatively sedate. Afterwards the audience is howling like mad. It's a truly great moment when the festival manager comes on stage and demands the set end, only to be met with such a chorus of boos that he's forced to allow the band to play several more songs. Ellington at Newport is a pretty good album that suddenly transforms into a magnificent one.
I suppose I should take this opportunity to make an observation about how I go about writing these reviews. Firstly, I consider them less reviews than observations. Secondly, I thought about it and I don't see the point of including a lot of information on the artists and detailed descriptions of the songs. Most of these albums are available to listen to, and given that many of them are new to me, I wouldn't be doing more than parroting Wikipedia if I went into detail about the artists. Which is a long way of saying that I don't have much to say about Duke Ellington. Prior to listening to this album my total knowledge of him was liking "Take the 'A' Train" and knowing that he wrote "Mood Indigo". That said, I'm very glad to have been introduced to his work. And this seems like as good a place as any to start - the reissue not only contains his more modern work in the "Festival Suite", but classics such as "Take the 'A' Train" and "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)".
It's also interesting how different this album is from the Jazz that I know and love. Like a lot of people, my knowledge of the genre mostly centres around 50s and 60s luminaries like Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter. To hear this earlier form of the genre - which Ellington didn't even consider Jazz, preferring the more general term "American Music" - is enlightening. At a time when Jazz was becoming more and more abstract, Ellington was playing an earthy but incredibly swanky hybrid of dance, swing, pop and blues that still defies easy classification. It's incredibly pretty, but also incredibly fun. The guy was the bridge between the dancefloor and High Art. No wonder he's held in such high regard.
Best Songs: "Take the 'A' Train"; "Jeep's Blues"; "Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue".
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