Happy Birthday Newport: 50 Swinging Years

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0002ABSCW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,932 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 50th Birthday Surprise, July 23, 2008

By 

Jeffrey L. Turner (Arlington, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Happy Birthday Newport: 50 Swinging Years (Audio CD)

I got this album a few years ago from good friends as a 50th Birthday surprise. Because the music on the disc was from the era of my birth, it was as good a gift as I could have hoped for. Three discs of great jazz played by great players. Enjoy.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Only Chelsea Bridge, July 14, 2009

By 

Neal Horwitz (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Happy Birthday Newport: 50 Swinging Years (Audio CD)

Out of this entire double CD, there is only on 3 minute piece of perfection, never to be duplicated-good art can be like that, a miniature, its symmetry studied over and over.
The song is "Chelsea Bridge." For all the decades that Ben Webster played it, in big bands, with strings, with guest artists, in Europe, he never quite hit that magical moment recorded live at Newport. It was him and Billy Strayhorn, who wrote it:chillingly beautiful. Strays piano is sparse and shimmering,The Brute plays his lush vibratto as always, just more so-if that is possible. That's how it goes on occasion, literally hitting all the right notes. I used to have the album, and ordered the CD for that one song. Yes, there are some other nice tunes, but it's more a grab bag than not. A lot to spend for one song, admittedly, but how much is perfection worth?