Amanda: The albums up to this point had been really easy to listen to. All the songs were available on YouTube and took around twenty minutes each. This album, however, is around two hours long. For those of you who don't know, this album comes from a live recording of Ellington's concert at Newport and includes introductions and the sound of a riot breaking out during the performance! I had to get the album off a very *cough* reputable website. That being said, I think this album is worth it and it was one of my favorites so far.
This album is comprised of jazz performed by a big band orchestra. Ellington was not a singer, he was a composer. He was, however, a very charismatic man, and his speaking interludes were actually quite enjoyable. This album also showed me how little I know of jazz music (Ellington states "If you have heard of the saxophone then you have heard of Johnny Hodges"; who the hell is Johnny Hodges?) but I was okay with that because I am learning. Definitely listen to it at least once. My favorite track was probably "Skin Deep."
RATING:
Brie: I love live albums! Though they are nothing compared to actually being at a concert, they can give us a feeling of what it would have been to be there. I agree that Ellington is a joy to listen to and a genius composer! I love the track "Skin Deep" as well, but it's a difficult decision!
RATING:
Duke Ellington - "Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue"
ReplyDeleteStandout track from the album Ellington At Newport (1956)
Album 6 of 1001 Albums You Must Hear
This is a great track, but I nearly picked Festival Junction instead (the live version on side 1) because it swings harder and has some nice bass. Much of the album sounds more like big band music, which is technically a sort of jazz but not the kind I like. Also, recording quality was an issue for me: a lot of the tracks could benefit from some normalization so you don't get this blaring trumpet all of a sudden when you've got the volume where you want it. Anyway, it was worth discovering this album for those two songs.