Have you ever thought that you knew about something, then found out that you didn't know as much as you thought, and felt like a real jackass? That's what I felt like after listening to the Ellington At Newport LP by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.

You see, sometime back I had vowed to myself that I wouldn't buy any more Mobile Fidelity remasters because they sounded too hyped up, too audiophile like, with exaggerated high frequencies, a lean overall balance, and so on.

When I ordered Ellington At Newport I didn't notice it was a Mobile Fidelity remaster or I wouldn't have ordered it. Then when I unpacked the box that arrived from Acoustic Sounds I realized it was a Mobile Fidelity and I was immediately bummed out because I figured it would suck, sacrificing musicality for sonics, like many of my Mo-Fi purchases did.

Well, imagine my surprise when I spun the LP and the music that poured out of my big Westminster loudspeakers was rich, natural, timbrally correct, with a great portrayal of rhythm, tempo, and just general bitchin' good musicality!

I immediately repented of all the bad thoughts I had about Mo-Fi, and figured if they could do this kind of 'music lovers' presentation with Ellington At Newport, then they deserved future consideration.

It says on the album cover (a reproduction of the original), that this is a live recording of Ellington at the American Jazz Festival at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1956. Eagle eyed Facebook pals Mark Donen (Paris), and Jonathan Halpern (USA), pointed out that in spite of it being billed as a live recording, it really is not. Rather, as Wikipedia notes:

"Columbia Records recorded the concert and an album soon followed. Duke appeared soon after on the cover of Time, and his resurgent popularity lasted throughout the rest of his life. Some of his best albums occurred during the next decade and a half, until age and illness began to claim some of Duke's band members and, in 1974, Ellington himself.

In 1996, a tape was discovered in the Voice of America's archive of its radio broadcasts which changed everything. It turned out that the 1956 album which was produced had indeed been fabricated with studio performances mixed with some live recordings and artificial applause. Only about 40% of the 1956 recording was actually live. The reason for this was that Ellington felt the under-rehearsed Festival suite had not been performed up to recording release standards, and he wished to have a better version on tape if it was to be issued on record. Producer George Avakian did as Ellington asked and the band entered the studio immediately after the festival. Avakian mixed in the studio version with portions of the live performance. The applause was dubbed onto the original release to cover up the fact that Gonsalves had been playing into the wrong microphone and was often completely inaudible."

This is a wonderful jazz album in spite of the semi-conspiracy of 'live plus studio' that surrounds it. Wikipedia notes that it is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and it is certainly a great recording of Ellington's music & muse that'll have you coming back for more for years to come.

If you're looking for sonic fireworks you'll probably be disappointed, because sonically it's probably a 7 out of 10 sort of thing. But if you want to hear THE GREAT Ellington band play their hearts out, then this LP is for you. I highly recommend this album for the music, and I can't imagine a music lover ever being disappointed with it.

Thanks for stopping by, and from my home to yours, may the music light up your life!