Dizzy Gillespie: Birks' Works

[Big Al]

It's about as great as big band gets, certainly on a par with anything Ellington or Basie did. An essential purchase, IMO.

[Fer Urbina]

Some cool cover art too! World Statesman and In Greece have recently been lp facimile cds from Japan.

IIRC all relevant original LP covers are reproduced in the booklet (12x12cm). Excellent album indeed., another example of Verve/PolyGram's excellent reissue work from the nineties, with Richard Seidel, Ben Young, etc.

F

[Van Basten II]

If you don't own a copy of Birks' Works you don't deserve to live

Seriously it's great stuff, i would say essential.

[John Tapscott]

Seriously it's great stuff, i would say essential.

Total agreement from this corner. I love it!!!

[Chuck Nessa]

It's about as great as big band gets, certainly on a par with anything Ellington or Basie did. An essential purchase, IMO.

Birks Works is a wonderful issue but let's not go friggin' nuts.

[Van Basten II]

It's about as great as big band gets, certainly on a par with anything Ellington or Basie did. An essential purchase, IMO.

Birks Works is a wonderful issue but let's not go friggin' nuts.

This squirrel disagrees

[Chuck Nessa]

It's about as great as big band gets, certainly on a par with anything Ellington or Basie did. An essential purchase, IMO.

Birks Works is a wonderful issue but let's not go friggin' nuts.

This squirrel disagrees

Let's see how fast that sucker can run.

[JSngry]

It's about as great as big band gets, certainly on a par with anything Ellington or Basie did. An essential purchase, IMO.

Birks Works is a wonderful issue but let's not go friggin' nuts.

Hell, it's not even on a par with Dizzy's earlier big band. That band was friggin' nuts.

[Big Al]

It's about as great as big band gets, certainly on a par with anything Ellington or Basie did. An essential purchase, IMO.

Birks Works is a wonderful issue but let's not go friggin' nuts.

Hell, it's not even on a par with Dizzy's earlier big band. That band was friggin' nuts.

Having not heard that band, where can I hear it?

Anyway, it's too late: I'm already friggin' nuts!

[JSngry]

Well, there's that complete RCA set, but the best & nuttiest stuff is live and kinda wickedfunkykinky in sound quality, on GNP (live in Pasadena) & last I looked, Vogue/BMG (live in Paris). There's a thing on Dragon that's almost as good (and much better recorded), but those two are that shizznittlonia.

[Brad]

I don't know about essential but this is a great album and deserves to be in every collection. It was a revelation, when I got it. Disc One is really good, disc Two not as much but still a great collection of music.

[gmonahan]

I don't know about essential but this is a great album and deserves to be in every collection. It was a revelation, when I got it. Disc One is really good, disc Two not as much but still a great collection of music.

Dizzy's solo on "The Champ" (which is otherwise dominated by a long drum solo) is my favorite Dizzy on record--and I have a LOT of Dizzy on record. The way he rides high over the band, cascading up and down as the band charges simply defines the word "excitement"! When Dizzy was flying over a big band, there was nothing and nobody like him anywhere.

[Spontooneous]

The beautiful take of "Groovin' High," with Ernie Henry, is worth the price of the whole set.

[thomastreichler]

"Birk's Works" is superb, a classic on par with the best of Ellington, Basie, Herman et al.

If you like "Birk's Works", i strongly recommend the following releases:

"A Night In Tunisia" Hindsight HCD 283

1. Groovin' For Nate

2. Left Hand Corner

3. Doodlin'

4. Annie's Dance

5. That's All

6. A Night In Tunisia

7. Whisper Not

8. Tour De Force

9. Dizzy's Blues

10. Manteca

"Cool Breeze" Hindsight HCD 282

1. Jordu

2. Groovin' High

3. Jessica's Day

4. Tin Tin Deo

5. Dizzy's Business

6. I Remember Clifford

7. Autumn Leaves

8. Begin The Beguine

9. Birk's Works

10. Cool Breeze

The liner notes (by John Jungklaus, never heard of him) provide no information on the exact recording date(s), recording venue(s) and personnel. According to Jungklaus the original live recordings were made by Wally Heider, the digital remastering by Joe Sidore. These are exciting live performances by the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band in peak form; sound is nothing short of sensational, even better, I dare to say, than the Verve studio recordings of 1956 and the Verve Newport recording of 1957. Wally Heider was one of the best in the business.

Both cd are available at www.worldsrecords.com for $10 each. The Dizzy Gillespie Big Band of 1957 in best possible sound quality. Highly recommended!

[ejp626]

Well, there's that complete RCA set, but the best & nuttiest stuff is live and kinda wickedfunkykinky in sound quality, on GNP (live in Pasadena) & last I looked, Vogue/BMG (live in Paris). There's a thing on Dragon that's almost as good (and much better recorded), but those two are that shizznittlonia.

Dizzy Digs Paris (on Giant Steps) is a re-issue of the 1953 Pleyel concert (on the Vogue discs). They claim this is the first complete version of the concert. "Digitally remastered two CD live set recorded to a standing-room-only audience of jazz aficionados at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, February 9, 1953.For the first time ever, this CD presents the newly remastered and unedited version of that evening's events with a number of previously butchered solos fully restored plus the addition of Bill Graham's previously discarded showcase 'I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance' for which Dizzy makes a rare appearance on piano."

Sound is quite good and the playing superb.

Edited November 16, 2007 by ejp626