Festival Session

Description

The Ellington performance is best remembered for Paul Gonsalves multiple choruses on Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, which brought the audiences excitement level to its zenith and led to a resurgence in Dukes popularity. He used to say in later years that he had been born at Newport 56. From that point on he was a regular attraction at the festival (as well as many other similar festivals that began to appear later). Ellington tended to introduce new pieces at these events, and the album Festival Session was a studio recording that primarily featured tunes he had presented at the Newport and Playboy jazz festivals during 1959. Two songs have been added to the original album that complete the session.