Various Artists: Newport Jazz Festival-50th Anniversary, Vol.1

Wein was proud to report that in 1954, Eddie Condon and Lennie Tristano were performing on the same program and although in later years free jazz players like Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Roswell Rudd and the "New Thing at Newport" (Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler) were to perform, there is no hint of it in any of these compiled discs. The first three tracks are devoted to the performance of the Louis Armstrong All Stars and the Eddie Condon Group. Willie "The Lion" Smith renders a solo reading of "Echoe of Spring." The Newport All-Stars, consisting of a post-war swing front line of Ruby Braff and Bud Freeman with pianist Wein, Wendell Marshall and Roy Haynes.

What ensues are three interesting big band selections. First, Armstrong returns with the Newport International Jazz Band which included such players as Albert Mangelsdorff, George Gruntz and Gabor Szabo. On a lengthy "Sunny Side of the Street, a fiery tenor sax solo by Bernt Rosengren is the best moment. The Duke Ellington Orchestra's resurgence that year was largely due to his appearance at the 1956 Newport Festival and namely the landmark performance of Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue. One can almost sense the palpable excitement of the crowd (and the orchestra) during Paul Gonzalves' long tenor sax statement. Count Basie follows with his swinging version of "One O'Clock Jump," which reunited Lester Young plus guest Illinois Jacquet with the Band.

Volume One concludes with two unusual selections. Nowadays, the performance of Sting, etc. at a Jazz Festival wouldn't raise too many eyebrows, but in 1960 it surely would have. Bluesmeister Muddy Waters and his Band perform Willie Dixon's "Tiger In Your Tank," which is an identical riff to his "Got My Mojo Working," recorded for the first time at the Newport Folk Festival, days after this session. In a previously unreleased recording, Chuck Berry, then a very-hot rock 'n' roll singer, performs "Sweet Little Sixteen" or "Johnny B. Goode." If the folks at Columbia/Legacy could not decipher the difference between the two songs, it might reflect the "illegimate" status of rock music at that point. The performance is of his hit "Sweet Little Sixteen," but done at a shuffle tempo, making the lyrics more comprehensive and more of a toe-tapping performance than a guitar rave-up. Kenny Burrell provides the guitar backing and either Rudy Rutherford, Buddy Tate or Georgie Auld are heard on the break on alto sax.

There are other tracks from the late 1950s on Volume Two and Three, but other than appearances by the major names (Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Ben Webster) there is little reference to the growing hard bop scene of the era. Another obvious omission was the Stan Kenton Orchestra. I understand that the voluminous recordings couldn't all be heard, but surely more of a balance could have been struck.

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