Our Lindy 3 and 4 teachers Peter and Julia present us every Monday with an Album of the Week, always including some amazing historical context and fun trivia. This made us really enthusiastic about learning more about the culture and the music. So we thought we’d share the love by putting all of them on our website.
This is the Album of the week for the 26th of February (there was no lesson last week). Ellington at Newport 1956 (Complete)
Listen to the album on Spotify
Listen to the album on Youtube
Peter:
“Finally – AOTW!
Duke Ellington (The Duke), born Edward Kennedy Ellington 1899, was a pianist and bandleader, renowned for his unparalleled contributions to Jazz, but also his broad knowledge of music. Remember Ella referring to him as ‘the encyclopedia of music’ in her 1974 Ronnie Scott concert, It don’t mean a thing?
With a career spanning over five decades, Ellington and his orchestra became synonymous with elegance and innovation. Like many other musicians, he faced a lot of racism throughout his lifetime. In his announcements you can hear his careful choice of words, and he was always looking out for his appearance and mannerisms, as a way to subvert racist stereotypes. At the same time, he did not want to be just stamped as a ‘black musician’ but as a musician and conductor first.
This week’s AOTW is his 1956 concert at the Newport Jazz Festival, with his band being in great shape. I like that this album features the announcements between songs, really putting you into a festival mood. If you listen closely you hear one of our favourites Johnny Hodges announced, too! The songs reach from lovely ballads (sophisticated lady) via intimate Blues numbers (Jeep’s Blues), swinging bangers (Take the A teain) to screaming drum fiestas (Skin Deep!). During the performance of “Diminuendo in Blue,” saxophonist Paul Gonsalves unexpectedly stole the show with a captivating 27-chorus (!!!) solo. The audience responded with such enthusiasm that it led to a legendary uproar. (You can hear it in ‘Announcements, Pandemonium’)
Later, the crowd is completely out of it and boos when Duke mentions ‘That was it’. The band gives an encore to save their skins (Title: ‘Riot Prevention’)”
Thank you very much for sharing this with us Peter and Julia!
