js The end of the big band era was marked by the emergence of the small combo playing be-bop, thus the idea of a big band playing bop seemed ironic at best, and impossible at worst. Many critics felt the big band format would prove too cumbersome for the new fleeter style, but undaunted, Dizzy Gillespie went ahead and put together a very successful big band in the new idiom. “Dizzy Gillespie in Concert” is a very early Gillespie big band recording (1948), but it was not released until 1954. This was his band’s first appearance on the west coast and the excitement shows in the performances and in the enthusiastic crowd reactions. I’m sure the concert was great, but unfortunately this recording isn't. The soloists come through pretty clearly, and the rhythm section isn’t too bad, but the ensemble horns sound distant, and sometimes barely audible. Even by the standards of live recordings in the late 40s, this isn't great. In all fairness though, some people really enjoy this record, despite the sound.

The tunes on here feature well known Gillespie crowd pleasers. Possibly Dizzy felt that since the big band itself was a risk, he might as well go with material people already knew. The arrangements lean heavily on Dizzy’s role models, Ellington and Basie, but the fiery horn lines in odd rhythms reflect Gillespie’s interest in Machito and other Afro-Cuban band leaders. Dizzy takes this material and modernizes it with the fire of bop. The rapid high pitched unison horn lines foreshadow the coming of macho horn sections such as the bands of Maynard Ferguson and Bill Chase. As mentioned earlier, the recorded sound of the ensemble work is often murky or vague, but the soloists come through loud and clear. Along with Gillespie on horn, you get three great saxophonists, James Moody, Cecil Payne and Ernie Henry. The main co-star though is Cuban conga player Chano Pozo, who drives the band with syncopated double time rhythms. Pozo’s presence in general helps add to the already present Afro-Cuban flavor in Gillespie’s arrangements.

A lengthy song with “humorous” scat vocals and other occasional cheezy displays of obvious humor may not be to everyone’s taste. As mentioned earlier, there is a crowd pleasing element to this show, but big band bop is never profitable or commercial by a long shot. The potential buyer needs to weigh which one trumps: good music or bad recording.

js “Gettin’ Dizzy, the High Flying Dizzy Gillespie” is a compilation of material recorded during his career peak (1945-1952) while he was with the Savoy label. Apparently this is considered a good compilation, but not the most comprehensive from that period. In defense of this fine CD though, I’d like to point out that this a very well put together collection of tunes that would make a great introduction to jazz for novices.

There are basically three ways to order the songs on a CD compilation; you can put them in historical order by year to show an artists development, or you can just throw them together with no set plan like so many thoughtless compilations, or lastly, you can put them in an appealing order like a radio show with good variety and a nice flow from one song to the next. On “Gettin Dizzy” they opt for the third option and make this CD flow like an excellent well planned classic radio special. It helps that Dizzy’s music has so much variety during this period. This CD offers a good mix of bop, big band bop, swing, female vocals, proto Afro Cuban jazz and even some pop with strings. Its hard to believe that this is all from one artist as it actually sounds like a snapshot of the entire jazz world during this period. Of course Dizzy’s playing during this time is just incredible.

To the serious jazz fan this CD probably has a few too many over played standards, but to someone new to jazz, this CD makes an excellent introduction. The tunes on here are short and snappy and they all have a nice variety in ensemble sounds that helps prevent “jazz combo fatigue”. The presence of well known tunes like “Salt Peanuts”, “Lover Man”, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and others helps make the music more familiar.

MilesBeyond Understand that Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac, a live album from the mid 60s, is not bad music, by any means. But it's not Dizzy's best album, either.

Diz himself is in fine form on this recording, and perhaps the advantage of such a late live record is that the listener gets to appreciate his live playing with much better sound quality than examples from earlier in his career. The rest of the band is hit-and-miss. We once again find James Moody as Gillespie's partner in crime, and he as well is playing at his usual high calibre, demonstrating virtuosity on the alto saxophone while at the same time proving that he is no slouch on the flute, either. While the man is certainly no Charlie Parker, he is nonetheless a stellar musician who complements Dizzy well.

Mike Longo and Otis Finch Jr, on piano and drums respectively, are rather mediocre. While they don't ruin the performance by any means, they aren't going to make anyone sit up and take notice - especially those who play piano or drums themselves. Finch, however, is noteworthy for the way in which he keeps up with Dizzy's changing rhythmic styles - from swing to Latin to African.

Perhaps the album's greatest liability is the mysterious Frank Schifano on bass, a man who I admit to knowing nothing about and who I'm not able to find very much information on, either. His bass playing is limited and rudimentary; his walks are simple and lack creativity, and while it might just be my imagination he seems to find himself off the beat with uncomfortable frequency.

Understand, however, that aside from the occasional goof on the bass, the disappointing rhythm section is still able to get the job done - the problem is simply that they are no match for the stellar horn section they seek to be supporting - one of whom is listed amongst the great legends of American music, no less.

As far as the music itself goes, the highlights are easily tracks 2 and 5. Track 2 is Mas Que Nada, a Brazilian pop song. Featuring explosive trumpet work from Diz and a combination of lilting flute and blazing sax from Moody over a Latin vibe that commands rather than invites the audience dance, this track is best summed up by the enthusiastic word heard from the audience: "Beautiful!"

Track 5, Kush, is a Gillespie original, and part of his Afro-Cuban jazz ideal. It opens with a breathtaking introduction, combining exotic percussion with soaring, exploratory flute work that does, in fact, evoke the jungles of Africa. This transitions into the head, which begins with a subdued trumpet lead before the entire band enters with an explosion. The bulk of the track is devoted to one solo each by Diz and Moody (on sax); however, while good, neither solo is the most interesting thing either musician has done.

The first song, the title track, is perhaps a bit of a novelty piece, but is nevertheless a good introduction to the Dizzy live experience. Experimenting with African beats, and good-natured interaction between Diz, Moody, and sometimes the audience as well, the song is fun without being obnoxious. The lyrics themselves are a tongue-in-cheek take on a famous African-American spiritual. There is a brief instrumental section (with a solo by Dizzy), but it's mostly vocals backed by drums.

This leaves tracks 3 and 4, both of which are far too short to be worth much attention. The former is a blues-y number, the latter is a ballad with Dizzy singing. While he's a mediocre singer at best, he at least seems to be aware of it and sounds like he is almost playing with the audience a bit.

All in all, this album is worth the price of admission, but not by much. It's a good example of Dizzy's playing, but really any prospective fan is much better off digging into some of his earlier albums (Live at Newport, for instance).

js Recorded in 1960 after Dizzy Gillespie had successfully experimented with African and Latin music, as well as other new developments in jazz, “A Portrait of Duke Ellington” is a look back at some of Gillespie’s favorite classic compositions by the Duke. Although the music on here does look back, it is done with a very tasteful modern sensibility that brings new life to some of these often overplayed chestnuts. Much credit should not only go to Gillespie’s tendency to forge ahead towards new developments in jazz, but also to arranger Clare Fischer who infuses beautiful modern dissonances in just the right amounts to Ellington’s already masterful orchestrations. Influenced by composers such as Stravinsky and Shostakovitch, Fischer’s voicings may remind some of Gil Evans with his careful placement of soft dissonant tones that add so much interest to harmonic changes. This cross influence between 20th century composers who picked up on the jazz language, and the jazz musicians who then picked up on the modified jazz tonalities of the composers produced some of the finest music of the mid-20th century. Shostakovitch, Poulenc, Gershwin and Ravel learned from the early jazz musicians and then were subsequently influential on later jazzers such as Ellington, Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock.

Although there are tasteful modern touches, this is still Ellington’s music and it swings hard with a nice undertone of the blues. Gillespie’s playing is solid throughout as he effortlessly hits the high dramatic notes called for in the arrangements and includes his own sophisticated blues influence to some numbers. Another big plus with this big piece of vinyl is the recording quality. When I gave this a test listen on the headphones at the local used vinyl shop I was instantly amazed at the clarity of the different orchestral instruments and how smoothly Dizzy’s volume perfectly rides just on top of the band. Considering how top notch the orchestrations are on here, its nice the recording engineers really captured everything, especially the softer tones in the woodwind section. This is an excellent big band record, modern and traditional at the same time, turn it up loud!