Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, Ellington at Newport 1956
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ธ.ค. 2021
- One of the greatest recordings in jazz history, Ellington at Newport 1956. I assembled footage from other Ellington events as a videotrack in hopes of giving the historic performance new life. Enjoy!
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I am and old man now - 88 but glad to note that was there in July 1956. I was getting my discharge from the U.S. Navy and was in Newport for a few days before being released. There were tickets made available to a few of us for the events and I went to the baseball stadium where the concert was held. Sat close to the orchestra and listened in wonder as Gonzales took his solo. Also was blown away when the blonde lady jumped up and danced. Ellington really got into it and you can hear when he changed the tempo to slow things down and fiinsh it off to placate the police. I also watched with some concern when the police came up on the stage to shut this great music down as they feared that something untoward might happen. As a jazz fan I think that this was the best experience I have ever had and I saw all the greats. Great compilation of the film and music. You have made an old man happy. Dr. Daniel Mato
So Lucky/Blessed...i was able to see Basie many times...I missed seeing The Duke + I wish i had seen him...I am a Huge Basie Fan...But love Ellington too
You were a lucky man, Daniel. I wasn't born yet.
Wow!!! I can’t believe you saw this in person. I much later met members of the band at the Now defunct West End cafe. They had the best stories. Love this band. Paul was unbelievable and do underrated. A true giant among saxophonist.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I’m almost 70, never saw the Ellington Orchestra but starting hearing live jazz in Chicago (where I’m from) in 1975. I loved reading your entry, Dr. Mato. For as many times as I’ve heard this on LP & CD, your description of being there has deeply enriched my listening experience of this masterpiece. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So much to say.....Duke was tired, the big band era was fading with the arrival of rock'n'roll and be-bop. And then Paul Gonsalves took the fight to the audience. It's like Muhammad Ali getting off the canvas. What a truly unbelievable performance.
It always makes me cry. This is not a band just playing....this is a band playing for its right to exist. God bless, Duke.
yes!!! if I had a change to be a fly on that wall... Gonzalves achieving nirvana
You bet, Mick, such good stuff, by then already niche.
My response to hearing this is the same and I’m at odds to explain why. It’s just so damned exhilarating and beautiful and at times anarchic.
Me too!! I get chills and tears. Imagine being there as it unfolded! Apparently, they had to play a slow tune next to calm the crowd down.
@@smiller4659i got it bad (and that aint good)! Calmed em down a tiny bit, but then the next three songs got em rollin again!
One of the greatest moments in music. This performance single-handedly revived Duke Ellington’s career.
One of the greatest solos in recorded history. I like how his fellow musicians cheered him on and wouldn’t let him stop. (Listen carefully and you can hear them!)
Yes!
Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," which basically saved Ellington's career.
What the band played after the solo didn't hurt either.
I first heard this around 1967 on FM radio from Oklahoma City. Paul Gonsalves played 27 choruses.
The Crescendo in Blue section is the greatest bit of ensemble playing ever. The musicians are perfectly in synch.
With Duke's arrangement having a couple of the sax players switching to clarinet, it sounds like a military band!
I grew up with this. It is what all of the jazz drummers listened to the in 1970s, jaws dropped. It's a work of "classical" genius from the greatest Jazz Big Band leader of all time. Woodyard's discipline to keep playing that outrageous groove and not diverting from it is amazing by itself. And then those melodies...one after the other after the other. Go ahead...try to top this.
The way Woodyard stretches time beginning at 11:27 (until he comes back in) is incredible!
Thank God it was so well recorded. This was the very first LP I purchased even before I had a record player. 81 years old and the thrill is definitely not gone.
Maybe one of the most famous jazz tenor solos of all time....certainly the longest!
Actually, Gonsalves once hit 66 choruses on this piece.
I had the L.P. of the Duke at Newport Jazz Festival when I was a teenager. Just come across this on Y.T. and it seems like only yesterday that I was listening to it. I am now 78. Marvellous
Gonsalvez que j'ai vu par 2 fois à Paris en 1962 ét 1963 ( de mémoire ) était toujours aussi brillant , arrivait en retard pour rejoindre sa place , en se faisant gronder par un Duke complice .... mais il ne faut pas oublier aussi le parfait batteur Sam Woodyard ( décédé dans un hôpital à Paris... il pesait 35 Kgs , !!!,) GRAND batteur s'il en ait , qui poussait l'orchestre dans un swing effarant , avec un léger temps d'avance sur le contre-temps par une frappe sur le montant de la caisse claire... Quentin Jackson , et le magnifique Harry Carney , le pilier de la section de sax , Cootie Williams , qui jouait la trompette dirigée vers le sol ,ce qui donnait un son crowl si particulier ...Tous ces merveilleux JAZZMEN qui enchantent encore nos vie ...MERCI
( Egalement à Vous ,
Ron Murvihill , pour votre magnifique réalisation )
This music is just soul healing. Jesus loves jazz!
As the Rastas of Jamaica say "Jah Is"
I once had a T-shirt showing the face of Duke Ellington in top hat and tails, with that ever-present Mona Lisa smile and looking so effortlessly elegant. I wore that shirt constantly throughout the summer and once during the fall when I was in Detroit, Michigan for its annual free jazz festival downtown.
The T-shirt of course disintegrated from the usage mileage, but the face and smile of its bearer lives forever.
What a stylish man!What a magnificent personality! What erotic charisma he radiated throughout his life!
Duke's an Emperor!
@@schwaarnkreddy7805 The Duke was the very definition of debonnaire. Judy
The greatest jazz ensemble piece of all time! Beyond life-enhancing. Gonsalves and Anderson - incredible. Thank you for putting this on TH-cam.
Paul...the mad genius of tenor ! Unbelievable !!
I was 7 at the time my mom got this record and kind of blue and take five in her Columbia record club and began my life long love of Music. Johnny Hodges blew me away with Jeep's Blues it touched my soul I felt the music. Ellington at Newport 1956 was one of the greatest jazz recordings ever. Quincy Jones all stars were the hot new band coming on after Duke I wonder how they felt.
Your mom rocks Daddy-O!!
@@michaelscott7462 So did my Mom and we had this album when I was 14 yrs old so I couldn't help rockin from then on.Ellington played Wichita when I was there and I requested that they play this. The Duke said I'll have to ask Paul it's his. So he asked him and They played it!!!
Duke Ellington was the Closing Act on July 7, 1956
The Duke Ellington Orchestra....the coolest men on the planet.
The best jazz Music/video on TH-cam
This whole show was just pure excellence. I studied Jazz in college, I still listen to this and "Skin Deep" about 4 times a week. ❤❤
Mind-blowing.
That marvellous orchestra, the unique sounds, shape, style, texture, thickness, teamwork, love. Eternally wonderful, the ultimate spirit of the great art of jazz.
Duke was the epitome of jazz in this country forever. I have the transcription of this composition, I love it so. Just Duke's into and Paul Gonzalves incredible solo make this recording timeless. The brilliance of these jazz musicians was lost after the big ban era died out.
Sadly. Judy
THANK YOU! This is spectacular. I have always been proud of Duke for paying his orchestra members when there was no work. What a MAN. Royalty for real. Subbed.
yup, sometimes out of his own pocket
It is one of the best extended show pieces. Right up there with Goodman's Carnegie Hall "Sing, Sing, Sing" of 1938. I recall that the notes on the album cover include that Basie drummer Joe Jones had a rolled up newspaper and was hitting the stage on the beat with it. It was the same summer when Ellington had a dance-concert in the arena of the small town I lived in. Wooden floor and my sister, 2 years younger, and I could really jive. "Diminuendo" is about 15 minutes long and half-way through Paul's solo I looked around and other dancers had stopped and formed circle around us. At the intermission i took my LP album cover on stage and got Ellington's signature as well as Hodges and Ray Nance, Carney.
This compilation of later film footage synced with the Newport soundtrack is outstanding.
Underrated tenorman!🎷
J'ai entendu cette version , à la
Radio..europe 1 pour ceux qui aiment
L
Le jazz,
.je ne savais pas qu'une vidéo existait, je suis aux anges,
Merci.
Performance of epic proportions historically
Jazz. What a wonderful invention
This is the performance that brought the Duke back into the limelight The soundtrack is the original from 1958 but the video is from a later concert in a hall. Perfect dubbing. The tip-off is the band setting and people sitting on the sides of the band and dressed in suits and ties. This wasn’t the Newport attire. I was there in 1957 and can attest to that. One accurate shot is the blonde lady in the black dress dancing. Still a great experience! My all time performance by Duke Ellington’s band. Long live his music.
Nice job, putting this together. Truly one of the greatest live music performances of all time.
Imagine trying to top yourself the next night. This changed everything
These are the musical shots from the cannon that I call "absolute".. 🌹❤👍
Rituale collettivo africano Grande Jazz (emozionante ) !! Grazie from Italia . W Gonzalves
The GREATEST Sax solo ever !!!
one of the great Live Solos period...
Best drum solo..
"SKIN DEEP"... Louisa Bellson
Great to see the Duke with band and swigin like mad l remember back in the 60,s seeing him about 4 times at the Odean Birmingham UK.and the last l managed to get the Dukes Johnny Hodges and Cat Anderson autographs. Not bad eh.
I bought this album when it came out in 1956. LOVED this track
There really are no words for this performance - and your assortment of video clips complements it very well, even with the necessary mis-matches. This recording lifted me out of a depressive episode decades ago. Whenever I listen to it now I cannot keep from saying, jumping, waving my arms in the air and smiling my biggest smile. If Ravel's Bolero was the first great musical orgasm of the 20th century, this was certainly the second. Duke never hit this high point again. He spent decades trying to fuse jazz and classical structure. He never appreciated that he flew up to his zenith with this amazing, amazing performance, catalyzed of course by the great, legendary Paul Gonsalvez
I don’t think Duke was trying to be anything but a tremendously talented musician and a teacher. Duke had many zeniths In His life time. As with any generous older person, they know time is not on their side, so they avail themselves to the younger generation. They teach and learn. Duke was sought after even when he was in his seventies, by ppl who had love and supported his music for decades. I consider this man checking off a bucket list and reminiscing about the fantastic life he had lead.
Far East Suite was on point tho
@@geerowr.6666 Agree. Judy
This is what Stevie Wonder meant when he wrote, "Sir Duke." " You can feel it ALL over..." And that day; they did.
Thank you for the upload Ron. The magic of TH-cam has enabled us to re-live these classical moments and unearth these archival nuggets of our world history. This is something that would not have been possible before this wonder technology came about.
Reading Tony Bennett’s book. Wanted to hear this composition. Thank you for posting it! ❤
Marty McFly in 1926: “gue- guess you guys weren’t ready for that. But your kids are gonna love it”
One of the greatest ever…always amazed by what this watery rock in space going around the sun can grow…This is similar to a Grateful Dead show in their prime…Period of really good music then…a miracle happens…thing is it might happen three four times a show.🔥🔥🔥
Yes!!!! I know what you mean. Lightning baby.
Does music get any more pure and joyous as this? i doubt it.
Wow! Great video; the visuals really add a lot to the appeal. Duke Ellington wrote "Diminuendo and Crescendo on Blue" in 1937 (not 1938 as he says in his intro) and I remember hearing the original recording for the first time in the late 1960's, then getting this LP of this performance in the early 1970's. It's remarkable music, quite dissonant especially by the standards of 1937 swing, and while Paul Gonsalves' tenor sax solo and Cat Anderson's spectacular high-note trumpeting at the end bring it closer to the 1956 R&B present, it's still an incredible piece of music and one can hear why the crowd went wild. Incidentally at 6:51 Gonsalves quotes Lester Young's "Up 'n' Atom." Also a shout-out to Sam Woodyard, to my mind the greatest drummer Ellington ever had. Duke Ellington towers over all other Black American composers the way George Gershwin towers over the white ones.
Let's not make this about skin color. The Duke and Gershwin are phenoms period. And neither of them was taken seriously as the polymath composers they were. You were either writing popular or classical music. The changes in symphony orchestra programming are way overdue but at least you can hear more of Ellington's great orchestral works along with An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue.
With you on Sam Woodyard.👍
most rockin tenor solo EVER.
Ron Murvihill...I touch your feet in reverence for your divine turn of bringing this music and video to light... simply because, without seeing, listening, enjoying,experiencing this
soul-exhilarating and spirit-entrancing
performance, music and audience appreciation no human's life will be complete!
The highest peak in music is THIS !!!
Beautifully said!
Thankyou for posting! All time favorite. Moves to tears every time.
MARAVILHOSO !!!!
SO WELL DONE THANKS
This was one of my first record purchases. I bought it after seeing the band under son Mercer’s direction a few years after Duke’s death. I ended up owning 68 hours of Duke’s music on records and CDs before streaming arrived.
A very special era of Music! Superb video.
Amazing to think that Johnny Hodges would say to Duke; too fast. Duke would say; why's that, John? Just pure chemistry.
Very well put together; excellent editing of available footage. One of the great Ellington tracks, made wonderful for being live...and getting the fans on their feet...and trumping Bill Haley who had them jumping in the aisles across the pop scene of the time......me to in a Blackpool cinema in 1957!..( Rock Around The Clock ).
Gracias, Paco Montes. Te debo mi aficion al jazz. Y conocer este petardazo que corta las tormentas y saca los rios de su cauce. Eché de menos tu programa de radio nacional esto es jazz!!!!!. Y muchas gracias a Ron Murvihill, quien quiera que sea vos. Saludos desde Madrid
Captivating, uplifting and most of all, swinging. ☝🏼😁🎶
This is the peak of jazz !
Amazing
Marvellous didnt know it existed!! Swinging !!!
swonderful...selegant.........
Wow! That whole tune really cooked but Paul Gonsalves took the band and the audience over the top. I have never seen a performance like that.
WOW>>>Raise the roof and more!!!
MEGA-GREAT STUFF
This is a very nice job creating a collage of images to re-create the event.
Kudos. You can almost imagine the being there.
Of course this performance was presented to an outdoor audience.
And Harry Carney clapping on 1&3 at 8:46; I doubt that actually happened!
That this performance still lives on is a testimony.
It was a high point (one of many) for the Ellington organization, as the 1956 Newport Festival was for 20th century jazz.
I was careful to put his claps on 2 and 4. Did they not do that back then? I know I always have.
Hey...nothing wrong with 1&3...check Ginger Baker/Cream on Sunshine of your Love.
What’s wrong w 1 & 3? How ‘bout Sunshine of Your Love - Cream!
Of course Gonsalves. And of course Duke.
But that said, in addition, play it back and focus on bassist Jimmy Woode as well. Uh huh.
And that trumpet at the end - those notes - Cat Anderson.
And Ron Mrvihill, who assembled THIS stunning video as explained in the description!
Epic Paul Gonsalves solo!
I love how you can hear the crowd absolutely losing their minds from about halfway through Paul's solo to the end of the chart, with people dancing and cheering, and yet the only footage that was filmed of the crowd was just of people sitting perfectly still in their seats staring blank-faced like they're watching Schindler's List or something.
There is no film footage of the actual Newport audio recording. I think the video performances were from Europe, whose audiences were very polite at the time. At the end I threw in some film footage of a Newport Jazz Festival audience from a different band performing in the '50s or early '60s.
Very good video, brilliantly put together. The music almost caused a riot but it turned around Dukes fortunes in the 50's.
The 1958 Newport jazz festival was filmed and put on A documentary called “Jazz on a summers day”. I think you are thinking about that footage. This is 1956
The blonde lady at the end pics?
@@naisygriff I believe she is credited with launching the crowd's frenzy.
Não existe ritmo mais contagiante que o jazz!
Good job
Unreal
Дуже смачно!!!
Gonsalves was at the wrong mic. He was at Father Conner's mic, not the Newport mic. They spliced the sound together many years later. On the original recoding that solo, which was 27 straight choruses, by the way, sounded very distant.
A couple of years later at the Academy of music in Philadelphia, I was in attendance when Ellington took this song way up tempo and Gonsalves took flight.
Based on the notes from the 1999 CD release, Paul G. went to the Voice of America mike and blew his heart out. (The show was being recorded for use in American propaganda radio transmissions to the Iron Curtain.)
It was through very diligent and determined "sleuthing" that the VOA tapes were found and synchronized with the Columbia tapes. I'm an engineer in the media business and am awestruck by the results.
@@WPM_in_ATL That stereo Newport is a must own, the LP we all know and love was a studio creation due to all the microphone snafus. You get to hear the entire concert in stereo plus the studio tracks.
Paul Gonsalves made that sax talk!
You 🛁 tube grazie tanto per portare tanto amor per tutto il mondo 🌍 la belleza della musica 🎧 troppo bello. La più bella invenzione ci fai rinascere il cuore 💓 di meravigliosa musica è gradi musicista grazie You Tune meraviglioso
I've had the old Colombia/SONY CD the late 50s, but this is something else again. I still think the audio is from Columbia...nobody could have the audio quality from a VHS or whatever. Nonetheless, this fantastic...!!
🙌🏾
Groovy
OMG> Just found this. OMG
THIS. Ain't for your phones. THIS. Is for parking yourself in the hifi room and letting it hit you like a hurricane. Nothing else will do. Then it will shake you. Then your eyes will water.
The dancing woman was Elaine Anderson, a former professional dancer and, well into her 80’s, avid community activist. Paul Gonsalves was amazing. I’m now a fan. I saw Duke Ellington live at Interlochen the summer before he passed. I wonder if Gonsalves was still with him? I missed out, not yet a jazz fan at only 18.
Thanks for the information. She got up and danced and people cheered her on to the degree that the Newport police became very nervous as the relatively quiet crowd really let loose. AS did Ellington who was heard to whoop a couple of times and I watched as he really stamped his feet. Alyce, I was there that night getting discharged from the Navy and always wondered who that crazy blonde was..
@@danielmato4358 Another item I read somewhere was that Papa Jo Jones was at the stage, whackin’ on 2&4 with a rolled-up newspaper.
@@danielmato4358 I have heard that Ellington made Gonsalves do the choruses because he spied him nodding off on the bandstand! Lol
@@alycevollmar5155 HI Alyce, Don't know about Gonsalves but Johnny Hodges always seemed to be nodding off with his half-closed eyes and laid back manner.. And to Mike, I remember (Philly) Jo Jones beating time with a paper or magazine. Memories do come back and as a young sailor in his white uniform, I stood out in the audience. Newport was at that time a wealthy, conservative town and people off the base rarely had anything to do with the 'townies', but that night I was invited to a number of bars for drinks afterwards. Stationed aboard ships that were based on the east coast when not out at sea, I had the chance to save money and visit the jazz joints in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Saw all the greats and as I spent time when out at sea I listened to my colllection of 45's that I played and out at sea listened on a short wave radio to WGBH or WHRB and the large number of jazz clubs in Boston. One night in Boston in 1955-6, I went to a club to hear Gerry Mulligan and his group that included Chet Baker. His bass player was named ...Carson who also wrote a piece called Carson City Stage. It was small dark club and when there was a break I went to the pissoir and Mulligan came in and stood next to me (tall, lanky and cool). I asked if he could play Carson City Stage as it was one of my favourite pieces of his group. I went back to the bar where I sat and he came up to get a drink and we chatted and he was frankly surprised I was so familiar with jazz and his group. Well it led to an invitation to an after hour's club that musicians went to eat and play and kept me up till back aboard ship in the early morning. Classic period of jazz in the east coast towns and in Detroit, Chicago and even the University campuses. Best place to relive those days is TH-cam to see and hear the old classic jazz masters and see them. Cheers
@Daniel Mato What a fascinating story! Thanks for that!
How ya not on your feet? I would be in the air, aloft and floating...trumpeters clark terry and ray nance, sax jimmy hamilton and bassist jimmy woode not only missed the afternoon practice session but were three songs late for the ellington orchestra, who played a short introductory set before returning later in evening where the 4 latecomers had arrived and paul gonsalves and his tenor mase history, Ellington orchestra back and Duke on cover of Time mag 6 weeks later. Definitive.
Apologies. It does. Rockin' In Rhythm. Enjoy, children!
Duke got off the canvas and knocked all-comers. How did he do this?
Sam Woodyard : quel immense batteur !! 😀
Did you take the audio from the 1999 2 CD set (the one where the Columbia and VOA recordings of the performance were joined together?).
I had an old record my dad bought and listened to it for years. I am not sure which audio file I used. If there is a better quality remaster than the original release, I might take the time to re-edit the video. Thanks for the question.
This is the most far out wild Duke Ellington I’ve ever heard. Thank you thank you 🙏. The fact the video is from at least two different sessions doesn’t matter. The sound track is superb. Paul Gonsalves (?spelling) can’t be beat - incredible solo. And so interesting to see the two different applauses at the end. I know which crowd I would have been in. My deepest respect to all the beautiful people that created the Jazz of the 20th century. And finally a big thank you to Ron making this music available.
No. This is footage from subsequent concerts. If only...
Cool I miss bands and when artist actually played instruments 😅
So the guy introducing this piece of music is a mathematician:
What is an Integral?
Is it a pure mathematical one: in which case one wonders what kind of analogy he’s making with the concept of integrity, with this complex of tones: the music piece.
I'm pretty sure the guy is Duke Ellington. What I heard was the word "interval", perhaps meaning a space between the Diminuendo and the Crescendo.
@@ronmurvihill5317
You might be correct.
If youre listening in a hurry it sounds like ‘integral’.
Ìs this footage from the actual concert?
Is this the one we're a gorgeous blonde started dancing and everyone went wild
lightning in a bottle!
Some "serious" white bred/bread hipsters in that crowd. Oh well, even white kids get the blues from time to time. Paul Gonsalves hit it. He knew he did and Duke Ellington and the band knew he did. Even the crowd knows he did. Mutual feeding frenzy is when you know you're on your marks. Sometimes it doesn't hold up later other than some memory. This has held up for 60+ years.
The blonde is still alive and lives in Boston
What is her name? At the time I thought she was living in New Bedford!!!
Still swinging I hope
@@WilliamSilva-ml5nw Elaine Anderson
@@MrShobar Thanks for her name. At the time of the NJF, l had heard she lived in New Bedford. Do you know if this was true?
🌱🙄💙🌾
Is it the record for sax tenor solo ?🎷🎷🎷or not ❤
The footage is from later solos. There is no video for this particular solo.
Roku Tv Movies Song enjoy !
Who was the sax player?????
07:15 he's actually playing a solo 😆
n❤
Who's the Tenor Player?
Paul Gonsalves plays both the audio from Newport Jazz Festival and is in the videos which were taken later from a couple of performances.
Listen to him playing Caravan !