The Duke Ellington Orchestra perform “Blues To Be There” live at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival.

Duke and his orchestra arrived to play at the Newport Jazz Festival at a time when jazz festivals were a fairly new innovation. Ellington’s band was the first and last group to play at the Newport Festival. After performances by the other groups, the band assembled leading off with “Take the ‘A’ Train”, followed by a new composition by Duke and Billy Strayhorn, a suite of three pieces: “Festival Junction”, “Blues to Be There”, and “Newport Up”.

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