MUSIC OR DIE #6–Duke Ellington, "Ellington at Newport" (1956)

Why hello there

Part 6 of my 1000+ part series.
(For info on that, clickety-click-click)

TL;DR:

Seriously though...I don't know anything about jazz.

More after The Cut>>>


The songs:
Soooo since this album is entirely instrumental jazz, I'm going to make this into a sort of stream-of-consciousness thing where I "live tweet" my thoughts while listening, if that's ok with you. OK? You're too kind.

1.) Festival Junction
Opens with an introduction. He describes them as "capable". That doesn't seem super complimentary.

OH GOSH WHO DOES DUKE ELLINGTON REMIND ME OF? Seriously, though, his voice reminds me of SOMEONE.

Ooh, clarinet! There are still way too many people chatting in the background...didn't you pay to see this? 

Piano's kicking in just as the clarinet's getting somewhat "Rhapsody in Blue"-ish.

They applaud with the entrance of the drums/bass. Now we know where their loyalties lie.

Ooh, trumpets!

Ooh, saxophones! Baritone? I don't even know which clearly makes me qualified to be writing all of this now

DEAR GOD THAT DRUM SCARED ME...I thought I was being shot or something. I'm awake, geeeeez.

There's that trumpet solo. Someone just yelled "YEAH!" in the background. I feel you, bro.

Sax has taken over again, but this time tenor? I should just stop myself....BUT NO.

Horns. Applause. Cycle, rinse, repeat.

WOW BLARING HORNS. Reminds me of James Bond themes, vaguely (for all 2-3 seconds of this BLARING HORN moment)

"Baritone sax" (I'm going to using qualifying quotation marks, which basically means that I don't have to be held responsible for my inevitable mistakes in typing this)

Seven minutes in, and OH GOSH BLARING JAMES BOND HORNS AGAIN. I'm imagining Sean Connery leaping from a plane into the middle of a jazz ba–quick, someone make this happen!

Wait...ELIZABETH, GO HOME, YOU'RE DRUNK

Everybody all together now!

Whoa, that trumpet sounds like a screechy violin. How do you even do that? I feel like that'd be painful. (THE LIP, IS THAT YOU? shoutout to my Louis Prima post hollaaa)

SCREECHY TRUMPET –> THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE

Ok, it's finished! Enjoyable, and luckily every time I felt sleepy/was zoning out, something would drag me in again, aka BLARING HORNS BWAAAAAH. The Inception soundtrack has nothing on this (Click here for added effect [but be warned that it is quite loud]).

2.) Blues to Be There
OK, piano. Then drums/bass. Pretty chill.

I'm getting sleepy. This can't be good. Must...stay....awake. STAY AWAKE!

OK, phew, saved by the sax.

Lots of note repetition, with small variations here and there.

Back to piano.

J/k, clarinet, 'suuuuup?

It's getting quieter. You're getting sleepy. You're getting sleeeee–

Oh, the clarinet just changed a bit. My new BFFL just yelled "YEAH!" again. I think we're meant to be.

That clarinet is on FIYA! Trill on, good sir. Trill on.

People in the background need to cut back on the chatter (except for you, Yeah Man, you shouldn't change a damn thing)

Apparently people thought it was over, because I just heard awkward applause in the middle that seemed unrelated to any solos...and now we're bad to the swing of things.

HELLO, TRUMPET (Yeah Man laughed. Be still, my heart.)

Sounds like we're drawing to a close...but there are still two minutes left?

Oh, it is finishe–j/k, we're not. Here come the saxes, with more awkward clapping.

BWAH BWAAAAH BWA-BWAH BWAAAAAH! I'm digging these trumpets! Why couldn't this just be Yeah Man + trumpets? I'd so get behind that.

It's over now? Yes, now it is. Yeah Man said 'yeah' again.<3 font="">

YEAH MAN, I'M YOURS

3.) Newport Up
YES fast tempo!!! YES bwah-bwah trumpet! That bassist's fingers are going to be bleeding all over the place in a few minutes, poor thing.

Clarinet.

Get it, trumpet man! Meanwhile, in Bass Land, he clings to life by a...string. don'thurtme

I'm here for you, Bass Man

Ooh, like 2, 3 seconds of drum solo!

Saxophone! The tempo's increasing! Ahhhhh, WHEN WILL POOR BASS MAN GET TO REST? CAN'T YOU TELL HE'S EXHAUSTED? LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU HEARTLESS JERKS!

Spiraling spiraling...so...fast. I hear shocked noises in the background. Yeah Man sadly hasn't made an appearance yet to my knowledge.

WAIT WAS THAT HIM? I don't know. I...I don't know. I hold onto hope.

SCREECH SCREEEEECH

Drum stops, then BWAAAH ENDING!

"It's a lot to handle"–considering that the audience reaction is equivalent to FOAMING at the mouth, I'd say you got it in one there, Duke!

On to Side Two!

4.) Jeep's Blues
Before we even start...is that a strange sort of product placement? Am I missing something? More likely than not the answer is yes

Ooh, slinky. Look at it, slinking all over the place. And just in time, too. I wonder if they had to take some time in between to bandage the poor bassist's fingers.

Draaaaagging out notes. Let's see how looooooong we can get our notes to be, says Mr. Saxophone.

I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!

"YEAH COME ON"–wait, Duke, are YOU my secret BFFL? I THINK YOU ARE OH YES OH YESSSSS

"OH YEAH!" And my heart skips a beat.

More saxes have come in.

OK, now they're gone. BUT a variant on "YEAH" in the form of "YEAH-AH" has come in and oh yes.

Welcome back, Saxophones. 

Finger snapping? I don't know what that was...a glitch in the recording? Weird.

Sax breaks it down as we draw to a close. The audience is still living for this.

5.) Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue
Whew, now to mentally prepare myself for this fifteen minute beast about to strike. Ready, Freddie?

"Always."

Oh, so apparently it's a medley separated by an interval from ___ (I couldn't catch it)

Bass is perky again, as is Yeah Man, sounding a bit more like "YAAAAS" man, but hey, I'm not going to complain. 

Ooh, so many instruments at once!! 

Bwah bwabwabwabwah! go the trumpets

Lots of cool stuff happening. I'm all about that bass in particular.

Nice bwah bwaaaah from the "baritone sax"

Piano has taken over custodial rights now. Random clapping(?) and a squawking sort of noise from someone. 

GET IT, SAX! He's the sax that just won't quit. YEAAAH THIS SAX IS ON FIIIRE. THIS! SAX IS ON FIIIIRE (FIYAAA FIYAAAA) I don't regret those puns for a second, and you can't make me, so don't even try. 

The audience is starting to lose it. They're losing it. RUN, SAX. RUUUUUN. Gosh, this solo is insane. 

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Alright! Come on!" say the rabid fans.

Slowly but surely speeding up. And the sax keeps going, and going, and going. The Energizer Bunny of jazz.

You'll never catch me, suckerssss!

The audience took a bit of a rest, but they're BACK GOING FOR IT with the sax. 

I went out, read a book, came back, and HE'S STILL GOING GEE-ZUSS! 

OK, so now we're on the piano, and the frothing and foaming has dissipated somewhat, though the tempo remains speedy.

OH MY GOSH, trumpets came in briefly and for that glorious moment reminded me of the opening notes of the Star Wars theme. Yes. Yesssss.

OK, more folks are coming to the par-tay. 

The audience is picking up steam. 

Ooh, I'm digging this here. Getting INTENSE @ about 13:30 or so. 

SCREECH SCREECH SCREEEEEEEEEECH! I think only dogs can hear it from here on out. 

"My jazz senses...are tingling..."

It just ended, and I think I might be hearing weeping in the audience.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Well, that was an interesting experience. I have nothing to contribute in terms of judging the artistic merit of this. I will say though that listening to this as a live album was vaaaastly more entertaining for me personally than it would have been as a sterile studio album. I think jazz is meant to be experienced rather than simply listened to, and since there's no video footage (to my knowledge), this is the next best thing. And can we just talk about how badass that bassist is? Don't get me started on the others. 

Personal standout tracks:
DAT SAX IN "DIMINUENDO..." GUHHHH

PS: I still don't know who Duke Ellington's voice reminds me of. This will never cease to bother me.