Requisites
To Diz With Love ~ Dizzy Gillespie | By Eddie Carter
For this morning’s choice from the library, I’ve chosen a CD-album to honor a true pioneer. John Birks Gillespie, known throughout the world by his nickname Dizzy was a renowned bandleader, composer, singer, teacher, and trumpet player. He, alongside Charlie Parker, changed the face of jazz forever by creating and becoming the inspirational voice of Bebop. At the time of this CD-album’s release in October 1992, he was celebrating his 75th Birthday. The folks at Telarc Jazz recognized this significant achievement with their first release performed earlier in the year at The Blue Note in New York City. Forty-seven shows in all were recorded by Telarc over an entire month resulting in one of the best live albums that year. To Diz With Love (Telarc Jazz CD-83307) also features the talents of Doc Cheatham, Jon Faddis (track: 3), Wynton Marsalis (tracks: 2 & 4), Claudio Roditi, Wallace Roney (tracks: 1 & 5), and Charlie Sepulveda (track: 4) on trumpet, Red Rodney (track: 2) on fluegelhorn, Junior Mance on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Kenny Washington on drums.
The opener, Billie’s Bounce by Charlie Parker was composed in 1945 and dedicated to Gillespie’s agent, trumpet player, Billy Shaw. Shaw was also the inspiration for Gillespie’s composition, Shaw ‘Nuff, written a year later. The ensemble starts this standard with a vivacious introduction by the rhythm section that grows into a rapid run of the opening chorus led by the front line. Claudio kicks off this uptempo cooker with a high-energy drive that builds its emotional level enthusiastically. Wallace produces a very hot flame of exhilarating verses on the second solo. Dizzy takes the next statement for a sizzling uptempo ride. Then, Junior takes charge, swinging with an intense and passionate feeling on the fourth interpretation. Peter keeps the ingredients stirring on the next performance with a soulful groove, and Kenny wraps up the solos with a fierce attack on the finale preceding the closing chorus and climax.
Parker’s Confirmation, written in 1946 adds Marsalis on trumpet and Rodney on flugelhorn to join Dizzy. The rhythm section provides a medium beat for the horns to strut comfortably during the melody. Marsalis solos first with full-toned ease at a relaxing momentum. Dizzy is up next using the mute to offer an endearing whispery reading. Rodney follows with a subtle tone and cool modality that winks to “Bird”. The front line provides a few more statements, then Mance delivers a soft, dreamy solo preceding the climax. Up next is Mood Indigo by Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard, and Irving Mills featuring Cheatham and Jon Faddis. It was written in 1930 for a radio broadcast and originally titled Dreamy Blues. The public went wild after hearing it, Mills renamed the song Mood Indigo and wrote the lyrics for it. Doc leads off the solos with a profoundly sensitive statement. Jon conveys an emotional impact on the next reading and Dizzy delivers the blues with subtle elegance. Junior expresses delight in a brief statement before the ensemble wraps it up.
Thelonious Monk’s Straight, No Chaser was written in 1951 and is given a spirited treatment with Marsalis and Sepulveda as the featured soloists. Wynton starts swiftly on the lead solo with phenomenal energy, then Charlie burns strongly on the next scintillating statement. Dizzy shows the depth of his intensity on the third interpretation, followed by Junior who says a mouthful on the next reading. Peter provides some powerful brushwork on the closing statement.
A Night In Tunisia is Gillespie’s signature and most famous tune. It was written in 1942 and opens with an invigorating theme by the ensemble collectively. Claudio is ablaze right from the start of the first interpretation. Dizzy lights an intense fire on the second solo, then Wallace responds with a torrid reading that burns fiercely. Junior embarks on an aggressive performance that’s executed beautifully. Kenny puts the final stamp on the standard with a fierce groove on the drums. The treat though, comes at the end when during the closing chorus, Dizzy brings Lew Soloff up from the audience to lead the group into the song’s conclusion.
Telarc has created a sonic masterpiece that’s a joy to listen to by engineers Jack Renner (one of the founders of the iconic label) and Michael Bishop. To Diz With Love is not just a celebration, but an exceptional musical performance by one of the undisputed masters of Bebop. It’s also the first of three final Gillespie performances recorded before his passing and is highly recommended for any jazz fan’s collection. The other two releases are To Bird With Love, and Bird Songs: The Final Recordings!
~Bird Songs: The Final Recordings (Telarc Jazz CD-83421); To Bird With Love (Telarc Jazz CD-83316) – Source: Discogs.com ~ Billie’s Bounce – source: JazzStandards.com ~ Mood Indigo – source: Wikipedia.org © 2020 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Roger Quincey Dickerson was born in 1898 in Paducah, Kentucky and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked in local theaters in the late 1910s. After touring with Wilson Robinson’s Bostonians in 1923, he then worked in Andrew Preer’s group at the Cotton Club in New York City, remaining in the group after Preer’s death in 1927.
From the mid to late 1920s he recorded in small groups with Harry Cooper and Jasper Taylor, with a latter session also featuring Johnny Dodds. When Cab Calloway took over the Preer band in 1930 Dickerson was still in the group, and he recorded several times under the new leader.
Leaving Calloway’s employ in 1931 he quit music but recorded again in 1949 accompanying a singer named Ray Cully. Trumpeter Roger Dickerson passed away on January 21, 1951 in Glens Falls, New York.
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Frank Motley, Jr. was born December 30, 1923 in Cheraw, South Carolina and took trumpet lessons when he was young from Dizzy Gillespie, who was from the same town. He developed a technique of playing two trumpets at the same time, becoming known as “Dual Trumpet” and “Two Horn” Motley. Getting a degree in mechanical engineering at South Carolina State College, before joining the military, he performed in the Navy Band entertaining troops in the Pacific. After the end of the war he played in nightclubs in New York City before settling in Washington, D.C. and forming his own band in 1949.
He recorded extensively for Lillian Claiborne’s DC Records from 1951, and many of his recordings were licensed to other labels including RCA Victor and Specialty. His band, the Motley Crew, included singer and keyboardist Curley Bridges, drummer Thomas E. “TNT” Tribble, and vocalist Elsie “Angel Face” Kenley.
From 1952, he played mainly in Canada, marrying and moving to Toronto in 1955. However, he continued to perform and record in the United States. His biggest commercial success came in 1963, when his version of William Bell’s song Any Other Way, recorded with vocalist Jackie Shane for a small Boston label.
Disbanded the Motley Crew in 1966 he formed a new band in Toronto, the Hitch-Hikers, at first with Shane and then with singer Earle The Mighty Pope Heedram. The band broke up in 1970 but he continued to perform with another new band, the Bridge Crossings, until the mid 1980s. With his health declining he retired to Durham, North Carolina, where he continued to play in local dance bands. Trumpeter Frank Motley, who also sang, passed awayin Durham in 1998, aged 74.
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Jabbo Smith, born as Cladys Smith on December 24, 1908 in Pembroke, Georgia. At the age of six he went into the Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston, South Carolina where he learned trumpet and trombone. By the age of 10 was touring with the Jenkins Band and at the age of 16, he left the Orphanage to become a professional musician, first playing in bands in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Around 1925 he made his home in Manhattan, New York City, where he made the first of his well-regarded recordings till 1928.
In 1928 Jabbo toured with James P. Johnson’s Orchestra until the show broke up in Chicago, Illinois. He stayed for a few years and his series of twenty recordings for Brunswick Records in 1929 are his most famous of which 19 were issued. Billed as a rival to Louis Armstrong, unfortunately, most of these records did not sell well enough for Brunswick to extend his contract.
1935 Chicago had him featured in a recording session produced by Helen Oakley under the name of Charles LaVere & His Chicagoans, which included vocals by him and LaVere on LaVere’s composition and arrangement of Boogaboo Blues. In the 1930s, he made his base in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for many years, alternating with returns to New York. While there he collaborated with saxophonist Bill Johnson. Subsequently, Smith dropped out of the public eye, playing music part-time in Milwaukee, and worked a regular job at an automobile hire company.
He made a successful comeback in the late 1960s playing with bands and shows in New York, New Orleans, Louisiana, London, and France through the 1970s and into the 1980s.
He recorded concerts in France, Italy, Switzerland and Netherlands with the Hot Antic Jazz Band. Trumpeter Jabbo Smith, known for his virtuoso playing, passed away on January 16, 1991.
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George McKinley Treadwell was born on December 21, 1918 in New Rochelle, New York. He played in the house band at Monroe’s in Harlem from 1941 to 1942 before working with Benny Carter in late 1942 in Florida. Following stints with Ace Harris’s Sunset Royals and Tiny Bradshaw, he worked with Cootie Williams for three years from 1943 to1946.
Joining J.C. Heard in 1946 he stayed for a year and the ensemble accompanied Etta Jones and Sarah Vaughan, whom he married in 1947. He also recorded with Dicky Wells and Ethel Waters in 1946.
George quit playing late in the 1940s to work as Vaughan’s manager, and continued in this capacity after their divorce in 1957. He also managed the Drifters and Ruth Brown and did artists and repertoire (A&R) work in the 1950s. After 1959 Treadwell also worked as a songwriter.
Trumpeter George Treadwell, whoalso led a big band and orchestra, passed away on May 14, 1967 in New York City.
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