Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue
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"Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" is a big band jazz composition written in 1937 by Duke Ellington. In its early form the two individual pieces, Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue, were recorded on both sides of a 78 rpm record. In early performances. Crescendo was first played before Diminuendo. Legend has it that Duke called the two numbers out to the band one night in Birdland in the early 1950s. During the piano break after Diminuendo, Paul Gonsalves leant over to Duke and asked if he could get a piece of the action. What followed was a driving, barnstorming solo that whipped the audience into a frenzy, with people crying out and jumping on their chairs.
[edit] 1956 Newport Jazz Festival
Ellington performed the works frequently, preparing for the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, when was told Gonsalves to blow as long as he wanted during the interlude, which Ellington later called "The Wailing Interval" or "Blow By Blow." In what has since become jazz folklore, Gonsalves almost created a riot as he played a tenor sax solo for 27 choruses that stirred up the normally staid crowd into a frenzy. Legend has it that the solo made a striking platinum blonde woman in a black evening dress jump from her box seat and start dancing. This helped serve as a catalyst for the crowd frenzy that grew as Gonsalves continued his forceful, energetic solo. In later performances, Gonsalves played as many as 60 choruses. This song, along with the other performances at the festival by Ellington's band, were released as a live recording which helped revive Ellington's flagging career, though it has recently been revealed by Columbia Records that, due to a poor recording, parts of the gig were retaped in the studio, the following day.
[edit] References
Turn Up That Noise, review of Ellington At Newport 1956 (Complete) by Gene Hyde, June 7, 1999, retrieved October 2, 2006
