DIZZY GILLESPIE

[king ubu]

For Musicians Only is indeed great! I have the old US CD, was there a Verve Master Edition reissue of it? (There was of "Diz & Getz" and of "Sonny Side Up", the later of which I have as VME.) To my ears, the old CD sounds very good! The drag though is that except for some silly Schaap sage-isms on the bonus tracks, there are no notes... or wait, that's on "Duet", I think, yes... still weird, having "additional comments" but no "original notes"...

[sidewinder]

Be sure to check out 'Perceptions' on Verve Elite Editions (if you can find it), with arrangements by JJ Johnson. 'The New Continent' also has some grade A Gillespie with good orchestrations by Lalo Schifrin.

[king ubu]

"Perceptions" is great indeed!

[BillF]

My favorite Dizzy is "Have Trumpet, Will Excite!", which I have on HMV vinyl with the dog looking into the phonograph on the label! I saw this band with Junior Mance and Les Spann at the St George's Hall, Bradford in 1959. They were part of a package with the Brubeck Quartet and a Buck Clayton outfit that included Emmett Berry, Dicky Wells, Earl Warren and Buddy Tate.

[sidewinder]

St George's Hall, Bradford

I've a suspicion that a relative of mine might have been at that very gig !

Last time I was in St George's Hall was to see the Halle Orch. well over 30 years ago.

[Drew Peacock]

This has to be one of my favorite threads. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of information, especially from king ubu about specifics on the recordings - dates, labels, musicians....

I love the sound from Dizzy and think his biggest contribution to jazz is the blending of different cultural sounds into jazz.

[Swinging Swede]

In later years Woody Herman recalled with amusement how he around 1942 had advised Dizzy Gillespie to stop playing and concentrate on arranging!

[medjuck]

For Musicians Only is indeed great! I have the old US CD, was there a Verve Master Edition reissue of it? (There was of "Diz & Getz" and of "Sonny Side Up", the later of which I have as VME.) To my ears, the old CD sounds very good! The drag though is that except for some silly Schaap sage-isms on the bonus tracks, there are no notes... or wait, that's on "Duet", I think, yes... still weird, having "additional comments" but no "original notes"...

My version has the original notes (as well as Schapp's). They're not very edifying.

Edited May 1, 2009 by medjuck

[carnivore]

I'd pick Diz's playing on Chico O'Farrill's 'Afro Suite' with Lucky Thompson as being as good as it gets.

[gmonahan]

Big Four on Pablo has some of my favorite late-period Dizzy, especially that version of "Birks' Works."

But for me, Dizzy was always at his most exciting in front of a big band. I heard him live with one once back in the mid-70s at Buddy's Place in NYC. That was incredible. Oddly, I've seldom experienced that kind of excitement on records--even the live ones. One of the few tracks that ever captured it for me was the studio version of "The Champ" now on the 2-cd Verve big band set. It has an enormous drum solo at the end which is not to my taste, but Dizzy's opening solo, flying over the band, captures him better than anything else I think I've ever heard.

When Dizzy was really on, in front of a big band, there was nobody who could match him, IMHO.

greg mo

[king ubu]

For Musicians Only is indeed great! I have the old US CD, was there a Verve Master Edition reissue of it? (There was of "Diz & Getz" and of "Sonny Side Up", the later of which I have as VME.) To my ears, the old CD sounds very good! The drag though is that except for some silly Schaap sage-isms on the bonus tracks, there are no notes... or wait, that's on "Duet", I think, yes... still weird, having "additional comments" but no "original notes"...

My version has the original notes (as well as Schapp's). They're not very edifying.

I see... lots of those 50s Verve albums have notes that say little, in fact!

[marcello]

[king ubu]

Great photo!

Michel Godard actually plays some great music on the serpent (as well as on his main instrument, the tuba)

[marcello]

[marcello]

[sidewinder]

Classic !

[flat5]

This is his latest general thread so I'll post here.

So professional, so entertaining, so inventive trumpet solo.

[gmonahan]

This is his latest general thread so I'll post here.

So professional, so entertaining, so inventive trumpet solo.

Very nice--fine Sonny too. Thanks for posting.

gregmo

[take5]

I love Diz but his recorded legacy is a bit spotty. Mostly because his finest recordings musically sound like crap. The previously mentioned complete RCA-Victor- I mean, that's like central to music history material right there. But the excessive noise reduction kills it. It's a travesty. I know these recordings are old and I'm not expecting Dark Side of the Moon here but give us a break.

Then the stuff with Chano Pozo- no really good sounding definitive recording.

The Verve big band material is the best compromise between sound and quality material I think.

Then there's the personality- he was a showman in the days when that wasn't cool, but not a junky tragedy, so there's no romance to him. As much as we'd wish that stuff didn't matter, it certainly does in terms of how the general public remembers you.

Also, I don't usually hear other musicians site him as an influence, nor do I directly hear his playing in others' music, at least not as much as hear, say, Armstrong or Cliff Brown.

Anyway I like this one a lot:

I wonder why the whole Cuban/jazz hybrid thing didn't catch on more in the mainstream. It's so infectious. Why more fun and lively than bossa-nova.

[JSngry]

I wonder why the whole Cuban/jazz hybrid thing didn't catch on more in the mainstream.

Getting "white people" to instinctively clap on (or otherwise feel) 2 & 4 took the better part of a century. A clave, well, c'mon, human evolution can only move so fast! Plus...it's in Spanish! Plus also, remember that "Africa" was not always viewed positively, even by African-Americans.

OTOH, the 21st Century is shaping up to be quite a pan-ethnic one for jazz, especially in terms of rhytmic "feel". Straight-up clave/Afro-Cuban is relatively tame in comparison and continues to be embraced by said "mainstream".

[marcello]

Also, I don't usually hear other musicians site him as an influence, nor do I directly hear his playing in others' music, at least not as much as hear, say, Armstrong or Cliff Brown.

Birks not only influenced every trumpet player for several generations, but he was a great teacher to any musician who wanted to spend the time and learn. As a founder of bebop alone, I hear him everywhere today.

Shit, he was/is one of the GIANTS.

A influence of behemoth proportions.

Here's a photo I took of him teaching a local Buffalo musician a rhythm pattern in his hotel suite after a long night:

[take5]

Plus...it's in Spanish!

Well bossa-nova is Portuguese. I just think it's odd that one crossed over and the other didn't, when they're both Latin American/jazz hybrids. I suppose bossa had the cultural chic of being laid-back and cool and more palatable to the casual listener.

Well that was all rather jazz snobby of me...

Birks not only influenced every trumpet player for several generations, but he was a great teacher to any musician who wanted to spend the time and learn. As a founder of bebop alone, I hear him everywhere today.

Shit, he was/is one of the GIANTS.

A influence of behemoth proportions.

Well look at it this way- was Thelonious Monk a huge influence? Sure. Do you hear his playing directly in other people's music? Not so much. I think it's similar with Diz.

[flat5]

It takes too much technique to copy Dizzy, Monk or Bird.

People play Bird's licks but nobody approaches his rhythmic freedom while playing Bird's style.

IMO, Dizzy has many good records both musically and sound wise. Good enough to enjoy the music.

[papsrus]

Ordered Savoy's "Odyssey: 1945-52" box last night, along with "Sonny Side Up." Looking forward to both.

Have a smattering of Gillespie -- including the Uptown big band, and June 1945 Town Hall releases, and the RCA 2-disc set -- but, as the thread kind of suggests, getting a firm idea of where to go next with his recordings can be a little murky.

Has someone who has listened to the Mosaic small groups box comment on it?

Edited May 4, 2010 by papsrus

[marcello]

It takes too much technique to copy Dizzy, Monk or Bird.

People play Bird's licks but nobody approaches his rhythmic freedom while playing Bird's style.

IMO, Dizzy has many good records both musically and sound wise. Good enough to enjoy the music.

There ya go!

Here's a smattering of favorites: