Description by OLDIES.com:
This recording, one of the Gillespie's best, features backing by the likes of Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, Cozy Cole, Shelly Manne, Sarah Vaughan and many, many others.
Product Description:
Personnel includes: Dizzy Gillespie (vocals, trumpet); Sonny Stitt, Charlie Parker (alto saxophone); Dexter Gordon (tenor saxophone); Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Frank Paparelli, Clyde Hart, Al Haig, John Lewis (piano); Remo Palmieri, Chuck Wayne (guitars); Ray Brown, Slam Stewart, Curly Russell, Murray Shipinski (bass); Big Sid Catlett, Shelly Manne, Cozy Cole, Kenny Clarke, Joe Harris (drums).
Recorded in New York in 1945 and 1946.
From the joyous small group sessions which include his legendary composition "Salt Peanuts" (with Charlie "Yardbird" Parker and drummer Big Sid Catlett), to the big band recordings which culminate in the breakthrough performance of "Things To Come," these are the Musicraft bebop sides that established John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie's reputation for musical and instrumental innovation.
Dizzy Gillespie often observed that the new style of modern jazz phrasing he and Charlie Parker (and Thelonious Monk) coined was evolutionary, not revolutionary. But for those hipsters and musicians who encountered Bird and Diz for the first time on small-group arrangements like "Dizzy Atmosphere" and "Shaw 'Nuff," it must have seemed like the sky was falling. Bird and Diz's phrasing on complex unison passages was so tight, their command of rhythmic accents so sure, they almost seemed to breathe together as one voice. Gillespie's own bravura style is well in evidence, and from the complex harmonies of "Hot House" to the wailing, sustained brass cries that conclude "Groovin' High," it's clear why Dizzy became the dominant trumpet voice of his generation.
The big band sides illustrate Gillespie's gifts as a composer and arranger. The keening brass accents and richly voiced reed harmonies of "One Bass Hit, No. 2" (featuring a remarkable 18-year-old virtuoso named Ray Brown) inaugurated a new style of big band excitement rooted in the blues. On the other hand, "Things To Come" was a bebop anthem, pure and simple. With its driving tempos, steeplechase changes and blustery solos, Gillespie announced a new American century of musical innovation.
Entertainment Reviews:
Q - 8/95, p.141
4 Stars - Excellent - "...captures....the edgy excitement on a series of early recordings ranging from intricate small group work featuring Parker and, elsewhere, saxophonist Sonny Stitt and vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and some powerful big band recordings. Gillespie's solos are masterpieces of virtuosity and invention..."
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