[78-L] Ellington at Newport [was Happy Birthday, Satch!]

[Julian Vein]

Michael Shoshani wrote:
> On Thu, 2010-08-05 at 12:37 -0400, Jeff Sultanof wrote:
>> Schaap is a very bright guy with a bit of an ego problem (i.e. he thinks he
>> knows everything). I believe I've told my Schaap story on this list; I won't
>> repeat it unless someone asks.
> 
> Part of me wants to ask, part of me doesn't wanna know.
> 
> I have my own beef with Schaap. I do like the "Complete Ellington at
> Newport" CD and I thought that Seth Winner's synching of the two
> disparate mono tapes was quite wonderful, but Schaap's liner notes made
> the original album come off as so much 'cheating' foisted off on an
> unsuspecting public.  He basically intimated that the studio
> re-recording and audience-dubbing of most of the album was a serious
> disservice to the record-buying public, who were thus hoodwinked. 
> 
> This completely overlooked the fact that a) this was SOP at the time, b)
> at least one Newport-performed composition was not even finished during
> the concert - the studio version has it the way Ellington intended, c)
> the vast majority of record buyers were unable to attend Newport and
> would have neither known nor cared about any difference in the
> performance, and d) Duke Ellington had creative control over his
> releases. The studio recreation was done with his active participation,
> and he saw nothing wrong with it.
> 
> The Schaap liner notes consequently came off very bad on George Avakian,
> who as I recall had a few words of his own on the subject. 
> 
> MS
> 
> _______________________________________________
I believe I was one of the first to note the difference between the live 
and studio performances, when "Ellington at Newport" was issued in the 
UK. I wasn't aware of the issued one being the studio version--I assumed 
that there may have been a second "house". I remember hearing 
"Diminuendo & Crescendo" over the VOA's Music USA around July/August 
1956, probably before most Americans! This would have been the version 
with Gonsalves's contribution more prominently recorded.

      Julian Vein


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