1. Festival Junction
2. Blues To Be There
3. Newport Up
4. Jeep's Blues
5. Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue
It didn't take long for jazz to rear its pretentious head at last. Or should I be putting "jazz" in quotation marks, before I derail this review to talk about its links to bigotry and Afrocentrism? But not enough people would get the joke. Anyhow, I'm sorry to say that save for the occasional jazz/funk fusion record, I haven't gone out of my way to listen to too much jazz. Fortunately, this first jazz release on the list isn't bad or disappointing enough for me to impale it on my acerbic wit.
This live album (well, actually this original record is largely a studio recreation) did much to boost Ellington's then-falling career due to the rise of newer, edgier styles of jazz. Sort of like when hair metal got eaten up by grunge, except Warrant never got a chance to release a critically acclaimed album after everyone waking from their long 80s hangover realized that they actually sucked.
Duke Ellington does not suck, however. This album has a nice mix of uptempo and slower numbers, showing the different strengths of his band. The solos taken are particularly nice, especially the famous Gonsalves sax solo in 'Diminuendo' that incited the audience to dance in the aisles! Less nice is that trumpet player at the end of 'Festival Junction' who seems to have taken a rather large amount of Louis Prima's High Note Grease. Just because you can definitely does not mean you should. I also felt that the drums didn't do enough for me. I like my jazz to have some propulsive drumming, and aside from a couple moments it just wasn't there (is the ride cymbal that great? Really?).
Although I tend to enjoy "modern" jazz styles more, this album is still good for playing by yourself in a dark smoke-filled room. 8/10
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