"Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" is a jazz composition written in 1937 by Duke Ellington and recorded for the first time on May 15, 1937 by the Duke Ellington Orchestra with Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams (trumpet), Rex Stewart (cornet), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick (alto saxophone), Laurence Brown, Joe Nanton (trombone), Harry Carney (clarinet, baritone saxophone), Sonny Greer (drums), Wellmann Braud (bass), Freddie Guy (guitar), and Duke Ellington (piano). No tenor saxophone was present in this recording section, nor in "Crescendo in Blue," which was recorded the same day. In its early form, the two individual pieces, "Diminuendo in Blue" and "Crescendo in Blue," were recorded on opposite sides of a 78 rpm record.[1] The 1956 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival revitalized Ellington's career, making newspaper headlines when seated audience members chaotically began rising to dance and stand on their chairs during Paul Gonsalves's tenor saxophone solo.
1956 Newport Jazz Festival
In what has since become jazz folklore, Gonsalves almost created a riot as he played a tenor sax solo for 27 choruses that aroused the normally seated crowd into a frenzy of dancing, standing on chairs, and rushing the stage. A woman with platinum blond hair in a black evening dress, named Elaine Anderson,[5] jumped from her box seat to start dancing, and she is often credited with initiating the crowd's ensuing uproar as Gonsalves continued his solo.[6] In later performances, Gonsalves played as many as 60 choruses.[6]
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. Personnel of Newport July 1956 concert were: Clark Terry, Ray Nance, Willie Cook, Cat Anderson (trumpet), Britt Woodman, Quentin Jackson (trombone), Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone), Johnny Hodges, Russel Procope (alto saxophone), Harry Carney (baritone saxophone), Jimmy Woode, Sam Woodyard (drums), and Duke Ellington (piano). "The Newport Jazz Festival Suite" and "Jeep's Blues" were rerecorded on July 9, 1956, in Columbia's New York studio. However, on every issue of Ellington at Newport, "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" is from the Newport stage, with varying sound quality.
