Artist:Dizzy Gillespie
Song:Birks' Works
Album:Dizzy's Diamonds: Best of the Verve Years
This is another in my Jazz for Beginners complete with a performance video and an affordable comp suitable for beginners. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was one of the inventors of bebop. He started recording in the 40s. But his prime was when he recorded for Verve in the 50s. He was born John Birks Gillespie Oct. 21, 1917 in Cheraw, SC. His father was a local bandleader who died when Gillespie was ten years old. Gillespie started playing piano at age four. By age 12, he taught himself to play trumpet and trombone. He listened to his idol Roy Eldridge on the radio and dreamed of being a jazz musician. Gillespie won a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute and went there for two years until his family moved to Philadelphia in 1935. He played with local bands like Edgar Hayes and Teddy Hill and appeared on a 1937 Hill recording of King Porter Stomp. Then he met dancer Lorraine Willis and they married in 1940. She got him a spot in Cab Calloway's band. But Calloway didn't like Gillespie's onstage antics nor his solos which he called "Chinese". When someone threw a spitball during rehearsal, Calloway blamed Gillespie which Gillespie denied. They had an altercation and Gillespie was fired. A Great Day in Harlem director Jean Bach has made a short about this incident called The Spitball Story. This film is an extra on the DVD of A Great Day in Harlem and it's available on Amazon. He joined Earl Hines' band in 1943. And that's where he met Charlie Parker. They both went to Billy Eckstine's band in 1944. Gillespie left to start his own band. And that's when bebop was born. Gillespie continued in Eckstine's band. He signed with RCA's Bluebird label in 1946 and starred in the film Jivin' in Be-Bop. That's when he started bringing in Cuban musicians like Chano Pozo. Gillespie appeared regularly on Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series. Then Granz started Verve Records. Gillespie started his own label Dee Gee which didn't last. Then he was throwing a party for his wife and someone bent the trumpet's bell upward. Gillespie liked the sound so much that he had all his trumpets made that way and it became his trademark. Gillespie signed with Verve in 1951 and stayed there until 1961. He first recorded Birks' Works on one of his Dee Gee albums in 1951. This recording is from the 1958 big band album Birks' Works. You can get it on this 2CD budget comp. Also the album Birks' Works is available in a 2CD expanded edition. Except for Birks' Works, all the songs on this album are standards. Ernie Wilkins from the Count Basie band was the main arranger. But Gillespie, Melba Liston and Benny Golson also arranged some tracks. Musicians are Gillespie, Talib Daawud, Lee Morgan, Ermit V. Perry and Carl Warwick on trumpet, Melba Liston, Al Grey and Rod Levitt on trombone, Emile Henry and Jimmy Powell on alto sax, Benny Golson and Billy Mitchell on tenor sax, Billy Root on baritone sax, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul West on bass and Charlie Persip on drums. After leaving Verve in 1961, Gillespie recorded for Philips, Limelight, Solid State and Perception. Remember Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1960. When Granz started Pablo Records in 1973, Gillespie signed in 1975 and stayed until 1983. Granz sold Pablo to Fantasy in 1987. Concord now owns those recordings. Gillespie recorded for Atlantic, GRP and Timeless and continued to tour until he died on Jan. 6, 1993 at age 75. Here's Dizzy Gillespie with Sam Rivers on sax, Ed Cherry on guitar, John Lee on bass and Ignacio Berroa on drums performing Birks' Works at the 1987 New Jersey Jazz Festival.
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