Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue

"Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue"
Song by Duke Ellington
Written	1937
Writer(s)	Duke Ellington

"Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" is a big band jazz composition written in 1937 by Duke Ellington and recorded for the first time on May 15, 1937 by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, whose personnel were: Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams (trumpet), Rex Stewart (cornet), Barney Bigard (clarniet) Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick (alto saxophone), Laurence Brown, Joe Nanton (trombone), Harry Carney (clarinet, bass saxophone), Sonny Greer (drums), Wellmann Braud, 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. The composition's 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' famous tenor saxophone solo.

In early performances, "Crescendo" was played before "Diminuendo." It was played at the 1938 Randall's Island concert with Ellington playing the interlude on piano. During the mid-1940s, Ellington tried all sorts of pieces between these tunes, particularly in a series of broadcasts he made for the Treasury Department in 1945 and 1946. There are issued recordings of him playing "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)", "Carnegie Blues", "Rocks in My Bed" and "Transblucency" between these two pieces. The last piece was specifically composed as a wordless vocal for Kay Davis. Later that decade, Duke once again tried a piano solo between them.

The first known instance of Paul Gonsalves taking the solo between these pieces occurred on June 30, 1951 at Birdland. During the piano break after "Diminuendo," Gonsalves asked Ellington if he could solo; the solo lasted 26 choruses, one shorter than the solo he would play at Newport 1956, and driving the audience into a frenzy. There are several other issued recordings of Gonsalves doing this before 1956. Another session of "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" can be found in the March 20, 1953 concert at Gene Norman's Crescendo nightclub in Pasadena, California, which exemplifies Ellington's standard concert program of the time.

...
Wikipedia