DIZZY GILLESPIE 1917 - 1983
DIZZY GILLESPIE:
21st October 1917 – 6th January 6 1993
An Appreciation by Jack Kenny
Is it my imagination or are we in danger of underestimating Dizzy Gillespie? In 2017 Dizzy Gillespie’s centenary passes with barely a mention. Dizzy is not forgotten but he is not highly rated. He did clown around and in 2017 people tend to elevate musicians who were ‘serious’ and were ‘spiritual’. Dizzy never played that game.
The trouble with Dizzy is that he was too good. You don’t get disciples when you play like Dizzy. His technique intimidates. Dizzy was phenomenal. Follow that! No way. Technique to spare. Eventually the speed and facility led critics to complain that he was superficial. Dizzy didn’t even take himself seriously. Critics even started to prefer trumpet players with little skill, where you could sense the struggle. True, Dizzy liked to laugh and joke: there are not too many jokes in ‘A Love Supreme’. Miles snarled rather than smiled.
Dizzy was part of the tradition, when he played you could hear the whole of jazz brass in the way that he bent notes squeezed sounds out and soared. His tone, golden and beautiful, he could have played with Ellington and taken the place of most of the brass section: Cootie, Clark, Shorty Baker, Cat.
If you really want to appreciate Dizzy or remember how good he was look at those videos that are on YouTube. It is a good way to appreciate Dizzy because he was so alive could not be contained just in sound.
Search for ‘Manteca 1971 Clark Boland’. You will hear a fabulous version of Manteca from the European band. Kenny Clarke and UKs Kenny Clare both set the rhythm. Dizzy is as lively and adept as a young man. Chano Pozo from Cuba was on the original record. Dizzy really emphasises the Afro Cuban rhythm. Half through you will hear a solo from Ronnie Scott.
Dizzy loved to play ‘A Night in Tunisia’. There is a version from 1971 that you can find on YouTube with Johnny Griffin. Johnny, even more under-rated than Dizzy, should be seen as one of the greats of the tenor saxophone. He also had a sense of humour, frequently peppering his solos with quotes. People used to like that but now it is frowned upon.
‘Tin Tin Deo’ was a piece Dizzy loved to play. One version from 1971 is from the Tivioli Copenhagen when Dizzy was with the Giants of Jazz. It starts with just Dizzy and then the bass comes in. Dizzy makes his horn talk. Just glory in the generous golden sound as he improvises around Chano Pozo’s theme. He squeezes notes and then there is a mysterious pause and Dizzy launches into the high register. After the intro Al McKibbon picks out the rhythm. When he returns Dizzy has put in the mute.
You could never second guess Dizzy. On YouTube you can listen to an amazing encounter with Dizzy and Max Roach, just the two of them. One critic called the 2cd album a mistake. A mistake! Just listen to it. It is glorious from the two men. It was all on March 23, 1989 at the Maison de La Culture de la Seine Saint Denis, Paris. It is a triumph. Total improvisation. Max explores rhythms with his razor-sharp reflexes. Dizzy blows wild and unconstrained. Somehow it all makes sense and the audience loved listening to the bop veterans testing and daring themselves. There is nothing quite like this in all of jazz. Innovatory!
21st October 1917 – 6th January 6 1993
An Appreciation by Jack Kenny
Is it my imagination or are we in danger of underestimating Dizzy Gillespie? In 2017 Dizzy Gillespie’s centenary passes with barely a mention. Dizzy is not forgotten but he is not highly rated. He did clown around and in 2017 people tend to elevate musicians who were ‘serious’ and were ‘spiritual’. Dizzy never played that game.
The trouble with Dizzy is that he was too good. You don’t get disciples when you play like Dizzy. His technique intimidates. Dizzy was phenomenal. Follow that! No way. Technique to spare. Eventually the speed and facility led critics to complain that he was superficial. Dizzy didn’t even take himself seriously. Critics even started to prefer trumpet players with little skill, where you could sense the struggle. True, Dizzy liked to laugh and joke: there are not too many jokes in ‘A Love Supreme’. Miles snarled rather than smiled.
Dizzy was part of the tradition, when he played you could hear the whole of jazz brass in the way that he bent notes squeezed sounds out and soared. His tone, golden and beautiful, he could have played with Ellington and taken the place of most of the brass section: Cootie, Clark, Shorty Baker, Cat.
If you really want to appreciate Dizzy or remember how good he was look at those videos that are on YouTube. It is a good way to appreciate Dizzy because he was so alive could not be contained just in sound.
Search for ‘Manteca 1971 Clark Boland’. You will hear a fabulous version of Manteca from the European band. Kenny Clarke and UKs Kenny Clare both set the rhythm. Dizzy is as lively and adept as a young man. Chano Pozo from Cuba was on the original record. Dizzy really emphasises the Afro Cuban rhythm. Half through you will hear a solo from Ronnie Scott.
Dizzy loved to play ‘A Night in Tunisia’. There is a version from 1971 that you can find on YouTube with Johnny Griffin. Johnny, even more under-rated than Dizzy, should be seen as one of the greats of the tenor saxophone. He also had a sense of humour, frequently peppering his solos with quotes. People used to like that but now it is frowned upon.
‘Tin Tin Deo’ was a piece Dizzy loved to play. One version from 1971 is from the Tivioli Copenhagen when Dizzy was with the Giants of Jazz. It starts with just Dizzy and then the bass comes in. Dizzy makes his horn talk. Just glory in the generous golden sound as he improvises around Chano Pozo’s theme. He squeezes notes and then there is a mysterious pause and Dizzy launches into the high register. After the intro Al McKibbon picks out the rhythm. When he returns Dizzy has put in the mute.
You could never second guess Dizzy. On YouTube you can listen to an amazing encounter with Dizzy and Max Roach, just the two of them. One critic called the 2cd album a mistake. A mistake! Just listen to it. It is glorious from the two men. It was all on March 23, 1989 at the Maison de La Culture de la Seine Saint Denis, Paris. It is a triumph. Total improvisation. Max explores rhythms with his razor-sharp reflexes. Dizzy blows wild and unconstrained. Somehow it all makes sense and the audience loved listening to the bop veterans testing and daring themselves. There is nothing quite like this in all of jazz. Innovatory!
He was just as innovatory in Montreux in 1980. Dizzy made a trio with Toots Thielemans on guitar and Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie on drums. Most musicians seek the safety of working with known sidemen. Not Dizzy! Thielemans was known as a harmonica player. Here he does not touch the mouth organ but plays guitar. Purdie, known as a funk drummer, is credited with secure timing together with backbeats, and grooves, completely unlike Max Roach. Together the trio creates music that is intense, amusing and challenging. Try their version of ‘Manteca’.
One of the great Gillespie solos on YouTube is on Wheatleigh Hall. Sonny Rollins shares the session and solos first. Half way through the track Dizzy soars with playing that is fierce, committed and intense. The sad thing is that now few can play like that.
Astounding was the only word for Dizzy’s band in the 1940s. Search for ‘Things to Come’.1946. It is a venerable clip in a weird kind of sepia. I know speed is not a good reason to enjoy a piece. This speed is. I can still remember the first time that I heard this track. I just didn’t know how they played at such speed and remained coherent. It is still a challenge for bands and there are numerous versions from other groups to explore.
Afro Cuban rhythms captivated Dizzy in the 1940s and they never released him. You can sample the album that he made with Machito. ‘Afro Cuban Jazz Moods’ conducted and composed by Chico O’Farrill is on YouTube. One of Dizzy’ great achievements together with Stan Kenton was to re-instate these vital rhythms back into jazz in the 1940s.
A famous version of Dizzy and Charlie Parker working together is the concert from Massey Hall in 1953. An even better collaboration was a concert from 1947 in Carnegie Hall. Search YouTube for (Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie (Diz and Bird at Carnegie Hall). ‘A Night in Tunisia’ is the first track and Parker takes the first solo. It is Parker at his best. Apparently the two men were very competitive. You can sense that when Dizzy solos. Modern jazz, bebop, at its best.
Listening to the music of Dizzy is not an obligation but a real pleasure. Together with Charlie Parker he changed jazz, moving it from the swing era to new more challenging forms. Composer, innovator, leader, elite trumpeter, humourist. Thanks Dizzy.
One of the great Gillespie solos on YouTube is on Wheatleigh Hall. Sonny Rollins shares the session and solos first. Half way through the track Dizzy soars with playing that is fierce, committed and intense. The sad thing is that now few can play like that.
Astounding was the only word for Dizzy’s band in the 1940s. Search for ‘Things to Come’.1946. It is a venerable clip in a weird kind of sepia. I know speed is not a good reason to enjoy a piece. This speed is. I can still remember the first time that I heard this track. I just didn’t know how they played at such speed and remained coherent. It is still a challenge for bands and there are numerous versions from other groups to explore.
Afro Cuban rhythms captivated Dizzy in the 1940s and they never released him. You can sample the album that he made with Machito. ‘Afro Cuban Jazz Moods’ conducted and composed by Chico O’Farrill is on YouTube. One of Dizzy’ great achievements together with Stan Kenton was to re-instate these vital rhythms back into jazz in the 1940s.
A famous version of Dizzy and Charlie Parker working together is the concert from Massey Hall in 1953. An even better collaboration was a concert from 1947 in Carnegie Hall. Search YouTube for (Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie (Diz and Bird at Carnegie Hall). ‘A Night in Tunisia’ is the first track and Parker takes the first solo. It is Parker at his best. Apparently the two men were very competitive. You can sense that when Dizzy solos. Modern jazz, bebop, at its best.
Listening to the music of Dizzy is not an obligation but a real pleasure. Together with Charlie Parker he changed jazz, moving it from the swing era to new more challenging forms. Composer, innovator, leader, elite trumpeter, humourist. Thanks Dizzy.
