In 1956, Duke Ellington's career had taken a downturn. Swing was very old music, no longer well accepted, and many relics of the big band era had already disappeared. Ellington maintained his orchestra, but with several key members of the band coming and going and gigs getting leaner, things were not looking good for the future.

It was into this environment that Ellington arrived at the Newport Jazz Festival that July, and the performance is the stuff of legend. Ellington's set was reasonably well received, then during the bridge linking "Diminuendo in Blue" to "Crescendo in Blue", Paul Gonsalves stood up for his tenor solo. Gonsalves, younger than the majority of Ellington's musicians and influenced by bebop players, began blowing fiercely, a powerful, evocative, non-linear solo that grabbed everyone's attention and made heads turn. Realizing he had something going on, Ellington signalled Gonsalves to keep playing, chorus after chorus, as the crowd became more and more consumed by the music. When the piece was finally done (a nearly fourteen minute performance, the majority of which consumed by Gonsalves' solo, unheard of in swing music), the crowd was positively frenzied and Ellington came out for several encores designed to calm them down.

On the strength of this performance and a cover appearance in Time Magazine, Ellington was suddenly a hot commodity, signed a deal with Columbia, and "Ellington at Newport" became his biggest selling record of all time.

So is Paul Gonsalves' solo really that good? Well, yes, it is. He plays magnificantly, and while it's clear he's starting to run out of steam when Duke finally lets him go, the truth is that this is what makes Ellington so powerful-- he can bring forth performances from musicians that can whip a crowd into a frenzy. Truth is, there's powerful solos from any number of musicians, and I suspect had Ellington seen a crowd reaction when any of them were playing, he could have gotten the same reaction, be it Quentin Jackson's growling ("Black and Tan Fantasy"), Willie Cook (stunningly melodic and inventive on "Tea for Two"), the leader himself at the piano ("Take the A Train"), Cat Anderson's pyrotechnics ("Festival Junction") or Johnny Hodges' lyricism ("Jeep's Blues"). The crowd IS practically frenzied after Anderson takes off to the stratosphere at the end of "Festival Junction". And I don't mean this to take away from Gonsalves-- his solo really is something to behold, but it's Ellington's arrangements and inspiration that's the star here.

So what is this set? It's a chance to see a master bandleader at the top of his form, playing his orchestra as an instrument, and inspiring them to in turn inspire him.

This reissue is particularly exciting as it is the first to include the original sessions-- evidentally the tape was damaged and couldn't be salvaged in the '50s and parts of the performance were a bit less than perfect, so parts of the show were re-recorded, complete with artificial crowd noise and announcements (in many cases, the rerecordings are far superior to the less than perfect live performances, as one would suspect, but they lose some of the immediacy). This release includes the original concert from a newly found tape and some of the studio sessions augmenting it as bonus material. The sound is letter-perfect throughout-- this could have been recorded yesterday at a jazz festival and you'd scarcely hear the difference. The set also includes extensive liner notes, including the original notes included with the set and new essays and session details.

In the end, this is one of the essential jazz recordings, certainly it's a fantastic introduction to Ellington's material and work, and it's among the best of his recordings. Highly recommended.

This release is a miracle. Phil Schaap and Sony Music have done it again. When you take into account that no two tape machines play at precisely the same speed at any time and there was no timecode on the original,I continue to marvel at how well Schaap and his engineers at CBS Syncronized this. The sound is so clean it's as though this concert was recorded yesterday. You are put right in the front row! The Bass drums boom. The horns Blare. There are some flubs, miscues and so forth, but that's all right. There is a warmth and presence to this recording that blows the lid off most of the digital recordings I own. Hearing this release begs the question "Is digital really better than analog?" Put this on,relax and go back in time!

After hearing a cut of this collection on the radio I immediately ordered and and found Ellington at Newport to be one of the greatest muscial collections I have ever heard. "Diminuendo in Blue" by itself is more than worth the price. For months this piece raised my spirits me as I crawled home on the L.A. freeways. I rank it is one of the most (if not the most) uplifting and stimulating recordings I have ever heard. The remainder of the collection is wonderful too and also deserving of five stars. There is so much on CD # 1 that it took me year to start playing the second. The top ten lists Ellington at Newport can populate are endless. One of ten to take on desert island is only a start...