Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano); Ray Nance (vocals, trumpet); Jimmy Grisson (vocals); Russell Procope (alto saxophone, clarinet); Johnny Hodges (alto saxophone); Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone); Jimmy Hamilton (tenor saxophone, clarinet); Harry Carney (baritone saxophone); John Cook, Clark Terry, William "Cat" Anderson (trumpet); John Sanders, Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman (trombone); Jimmy Woode (bass); Sam Woodyard (drums).
Producer: George Avakian.
Reissue producer: Phil Schaap.
Recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, Rhode Island on July 7, 1956. Includes liner notes by George Avakian and Phil Schaap.
Digitally remastered by Phil Schaap (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).
What makes this classic recording endure is the monumental level of intensity the band brings to each number. Ellington, in speaking of the band's competitive nature, recalled that they were all in a particularly fesity mode for this performance. That crackling energy translates to every number, and even extended to Count Basie's original drummer Jo Jones, who sat grinning from ear to ear in the front row, so moved by the swing of it all that he beat time for the band with a rolled up copy of The Christian Science Monitor.
From Johnny Hodges' ultra-suave "Jeep's Blues," to Paul Gonsalves' epic tenor marathon on "Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue" (which set the crowd to dancing and screaming), ELLINGTON AT NEWPORT is one of the really great big band recordings.