Customer Reviews

First Annual Connecticut Jazz Festival

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First class recording. Sounds like as if you were in the audience in a live concert. Looking for a vinyl recording of Duke Ellington at Newport, 1956?? I think.

I actually own a bit older edition of this CD, but the song line-up seems the same, so here it goes: I have no idea what happened with Connecticut jazz festival after this glorious debut, but brother, what a debut it was!

The Orchestra was in full power and swing, with Hodges, Carney, Hamilton, Gonsalves, Nance, Terry, Procope, Cat Anderson... (songs 1-3 - actually "The Newport Jazz Festival Suite" and songs 9-16), but the additional atractions is, first of all, the excellent "Festival All-Stars", where Buck Clayton joined his warm and luxurious trumpet with Hank Jones' piano and some of the best Ellington talents (Gonsalves on tenor, Hamilton on clarinet, bassist Jimmy Woode and the drummer Woodyard)... They perform imaginative and hot version of "Tea for Two" and an "Ad Lib Blues".
Then comes the gentle and virtuoso sound of Willie "The Lion" Smith on piano, a great influence on young Ellington; his trio is joined by the great Buck Clayton on trumpet (the rest of the trio is Walter Page -b and Arthur Trappier - dm) - their contribution (in songs 6-8) is anything but a historical curiosity...

BTW, in the last, Ellington section of the CD, Ray Nance is heard in some hillarious vocal flights (partly in some sort of French, apparently...)

Only true complaint of this great album consists of the occasional slips in the technological quality of the recording (poor ballance and so forth), but the music is constantly exciting...

Additional Ellington, Nance, Hodges, Gonsalves, Carney, Anderson and Clayton's gems for your pleasure:
The Great Paris Concert [Collectables], 1939-1941 Jimmy Blanton Era, Buck Clayton Jam Session, Jazz Party...