2182. “Newport Jazz Festival Suite” by Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
Part One:
Festival Junction - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
Part Two:
Blues To Be There - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
Part 3:
Newport Up - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
As you may recall, I’ve struggled with understanding and appreciating classical music. I have a number of classical pieces in my library (a number of which I’ve addressed already and many more to come) that challenge and confound me.
My dim understand of classical, however, is a mere molehill when compared to my utter ignorance of jazz. I can recognize great musicianship, I can hear a hook every now and then, and I can even say “hey, I kind of like the sound of that piece,” but I don’t comprehend it in the least. There are a number of sights that explain jazz in very simple terms and they tend to stress improvisation.
Now, I do theatrical improvisation and the last thing we want is for our improvisations to be set to film. They rarely make sense out of context and part of the fun is watching us do it live, on the spot. So why jazz recordings?
And then there’s folks like Duke Ellington who are referred jazz composers. Do they just compose the initial theme (called “the head”)? There are a number of compositions by Ellington that don’t significantly change from performance to performance. So, if there’s no improvisation is it still jazz?
Furthermore, there are a number of distinct jazz styles. Ragtime. Swing. Be bop. Dixieland. Cool Jazz. A dozen more. I know there are dozens of distinct ways of approaching improvised theater, but its just not the same thing.
The current iteration of the Wikipedia entry on Jazz has a section on definition which, in essence, can be summarized as “jazz can’t really be defined.” That’s a vast overstatement, since it can be defined by its history and its performers, but its clearly a much broader term than, say, “rock” or “pop.”
Anyhow, one seminal live jazz performance was Duke Ellington & His Orchestra’s performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956. A recording of this performance titled Ellington at Newport documents this historic concert, which revitalized Ellington and his Orchestra’s career and more or else cemented his legend as an American music icon.
I have a significantly edited version of this album. Apparently, this was the bargain bin version of Ellington at the time. It has three tracks. Well, sort of three tracks. This first one, “Newport Jazz Festival Suite,” is actually the three tracks I’ve linked in this entry. Each one is distinctly different, though the same theme runs through the whole piece. The tempos and soloists change from section to section and piece to piece.
And here is where my fatal weakness as a writer on the subject of music once again comes to the forefront. As much as I enjoy these three pieces, I don’t really have a whole lot to say about them. I recognize their brilliance, I enjoy listening to them, and I even retain the melodies long after I’ve listened to the piece. However, I can’t describe what I’m hearing in any decent way.
Most of my best entries on this site have been about my personal relationship to a piece or about how a particular piece has some sort of social or artistic meaning. Lacking a decent entry point into discussing jazz, there’s almost nothing intelligent I can write about Duke Ellington’s work.
So, I guess what I’m saying is, I don’t know much about jazz, but I know what I like. And I like this.