Newport 1958 - Duke Ellington

 

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Newport 1958

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra

Featuring Gerry Mulligan on Baritone Sax

Columbia CL 1245

Saxophone

Johnny Hodges

Russell Procope

Paul Gonsalves

Jimmy Hamilton 

Harry Carney

Trumpet

Ray Nance

"Cat" Anderson

"Shorty" Baker

Clark Terry

Trombone

Britt Woodman

John Sanders

Queintin Jackson

Bass

Jimmy Wood

Drums

Sam Woodyard

Piano

Duke Ellington

Vocal

Ozzie Bailey

From the back cover: 1958 has been one of Duke's lucky years – a year in which many special tributes have been given to him. By July he had already been asked by the Shakespearean Festival in Stratford, Ontario, to perform for Princess Margaret; he had won by a wide margin first place as the band of the year in a poll of international jazz critics, conducted by Down Beat Magazine; and a girl had shyly approached him in a Broadway record store to tell him that in her opinion only Gershwin ranked with Ellington in American music. And Duke has responded to the nice things that have happened to him by writing and playing more new music this year than in any other year of his life.

So, in keeping with his lucky year, the Newport Jazz Festival devoted the night of July 3rd, 1958, to a salute to Duke Ellington, in which Dave Brubeck's Quartet, Marian McPartland's Trio, and a group of Ellington alumni played the most famous of all Ellington compositions. There seemed to be little left of Ellington for Ellington to play when, at the close of the memorable evening, Duke and his band came on. Some of us who were there knew what to expect from Duke on such an occasion. The rest of the more than ten thousand in the audience soon found out, for after a grateful acknowledgment to the musicians who had saluted him, Duke presented a long and flawlessly played program of entirely new music, written for the most part while he and the band were settled at Chicago's Blue Note during the month of June.

Much of the audience at Freebody Park this Thursday night remembered well Duke's triumph at the 1956 Festival, a performance that helped more than any other to spread the excitement of the Newport Festival around the world (Columbia CL 934). They were ready to swing again, and Duke obliged. "We'll start," he announced, "by Just Scratchin' The Surface." This opener does just what it was intended to do. It begins with Duke Swinging with the rhythm section, and it proceeds to present the full-band sound so inimitably Ellington's. Then, section by section, the band comes on while Same Woodyard shouts "All night long" in the right places. As as a final closing of the gap between 1956 and 1958, Paul Gonsalves solos in the easy tempo best for his swinging sound. The Ellington part of the evening was off and flying. – Irving Townsend

From Billboard - November 24, 1958: Duke Ellington' 1956 Newport Jazz Festival recording was a big seller, and this new one, recorded live at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival, could also turn into a strong item for the Duke. The material here is all new, 10 new tunes, and all penned by Ellington, of course. These are not the strongest pieces Ellington has ever written, in fact some of them sound like re-writes of other Ellington songs. But the performances of the band, the individual soloists, and Gerry Mulligan -– who plays with the band on this LP, are mighty good, and that alone makes this an outstanding new release.

Just Scratchin' The Surface

El Gato

Happy Reunion

Multicolored Blue

Princess Blue

Jazz Festival Jazz

Mr. Gentle And Mr. Cool

Juniflip 

Prima Bara Dubla

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