Jazz Articles about Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie Big Band: Showtime at the Spotlite

by David Rickert
November 4, 2008

Dizzy Gillespie's big band fused the intricacies of bebop with the high-powered riffing into a short lived but exciting outfit. This concert, recorded on 52nd Street in 1946, is one of few occasions to hear the trumpeter's band live and in its prime. A word of caution, though: this CD is a result of amateur taping (by Jerry Newman, no less) and the usual limitations occur, although the sound quality is very good and not too distracting. ...

John Taylor's Jazz Caricatures: Dizzy Gillespie

by John Taylor
May 28, 2008

Dizzy Gillespie About John Taylor For me, art and music flow into a creative confluence. Encouraged by my family to draw and play the drums at an early age, I continue to find expression in these art forms.Motivation for a career in art and music developed in the 1960's as I observed theme park caricaturists at work and listened to recordings of the inimitable Buddy Rich. Gifted editorial caricaturist, David Levine, also ...

Dizzy Gillespie: Night in Tunisia: The Very Best of Dizzy Gillespie

by Francis Lo Kee
July 13, 2007

It's quite a stretch to call this CD the very best, since all of the music was recorded between 1946 and 1949. Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) was one of the leaders of bebop but also forged an important and unshakable relationship between jazz and Afro-Cuban music that lasts to this day. His recording career spans more than five decades. The CD opens with “A Night in Tunisia, played with the kind of energy of which only innovators are ...

Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band: Dizzy's Business

by George Kanzler
March 20, 2007

This is a “ghost band" in the midst of an exorcism. Dizzy's ghost is almost gone. Past editions of this band featured Jon Faddis, Dizzy's most faithful acolyte, on trumpet, carrying the torch. No torch carriers here: sans Faddis, the other trumpeters obviously feel no compunction to channel Dizzy bop lines in their solos. And while previous bands dug heavily into the archives for charts, this band only uses two charts from the Dizzy Big Band era--both Ernie Wilkins arrangements ...

Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band: Dizzy's Business

by Jack Bowers
November 26, 2006

Concert-goers at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild last September-October chanced upon the best of all possible worlds--terrific charts by Ernie Wilkins, Slide Hampton, Dennis Mackrel and Jimmy Heath, marvelously played by the accurately named Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. If you aren't among those lucky enough to have been there, your luck has taken a turn for the better, as highlights from the series of incendiary performances were preserved on tape and are now available on this exhilarating release from MCG. ...

Dizzy Gillespie: The Verve / Philips Dizzy Gillespie Small Group Sessions

by Andrew Velez
October 25, 2006

Recorded from May, 1954 to April, 1964, these 132 small-group sides just might not have happened--except that like so many others, Dizzy Gillespie's big band had fallen on hard times by the early '50s. This seven-disc compilation is filled with signature classics such as “Salt Peanuts and “A Night In Tunisia, documenting the evolving artistry of John Birks Gillespie, a true jazz giant. As Donald L. Maggin observes in his detailed liner notes, “As a creator of the bebop and ...

Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band: Dizzy's Business

by C. Michael Bailey
October 4, 2006

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band is a renowned entity with several fine recordings on various labels. Releases by the group are always greeted with a certain anticipation. Listeners who have been looking for that one big band recording this year need look no further--Dizzy's Business is here, and it's larger than life.

Trombonist Slide Hampton has taken over the director's reins and provided several of the excellent arrangements. The repertoire of the band begins with Gillespie's big ...