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Title: The Original
Review: This album is invaluable simply for the first two sections of the original performance of The Newport Jazz Festival Suite. Not as tight as the studio version recorded the following week, but, Lord, does it swing! Ellington's piano playing at the start of the second section is understated and stunning. Another bonus is the opening number of the main set, a rousing version of Take the A Train. There are disappointments. The engineers have ruined Woodyard's version of Skin Deep, which was so exciting on the original LP. (If the old version was a studio version, then honesty compels the judgment that the studio version was better.)The interminable introductions could have been removed with no loss except for historians. On the other hand, those youngsters who can stomach listening to the band's introduction several times will understand in their guts why the sixties had to happen.
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