Dizzy Gillespie Quintet – ‘Gillespiana in Concert’

Curiously, this album recorded in Copenhagen, began at a Buenos Aires reception for distinguished visitor John Birks ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie, probably the most gifted and jazz trumpeter since Louis Armstrong. Naturally, there’s a band at the event and Gillespie, much captivated by its leader, pianist and composer Lalo Schifrin, suggests that the young Argentinian come to the U.S. and write for him.

Four years later in 1960, Schifrin appears in New York City, tracks down Gillespie and promptly writes the striking ‘Gillespiana Suite’ for his quintet plus a sixteen-piece orchestra packed with brass and percussion. Schifrin’s intention is to celebrate Gillespie’s considerable achievements as co-parent of the bebop movement and enthusiastic aficionado of Afro-Cuban music. Gillespie is knocked out and makes sure the entire suite is recorded within a month. Critical praise is unstinting. And, coincidentally, Gillespie’s piano player Junior Mance is departing the quintet to launch his own trio and a delighted Schifrin slides comfortably onto the still warm piano stool.

Subsequently, the ‘Suite’ part of the title is dropped, but the ‘Gillespiana’ remains. Clearly, it’s financially (and probably logistically) difficult to tour abroad with the full ensemble, so Schifrin (who eventually finds fame as a distinguished TV and movie theme composer) skilfully rearranges the entire suite for a quintet. On this album, we’re fortunate to hear his rearrangement performed live on 20 November 1961 at the Falkoner Centret in Copenhagen, Denmark in the company of alto saxophonist and flautist, Leo Wright, bassist Bob Cunningham and drummer Mel Lewis.

‘Gillespiana’ comprises five sections: Prelude, Blues, Panamericana and Toccata. The energy levels are set high and the band has to replicate the rhythmic complexity of all the absent percussionists. Prelude’s medium-fast boppish theme serves as a catapult for Gillespie to unleash his up-tilted trumpet into virtuosic flights aided by Lewis’s inspiring drumming. Wright enters on fiery alto as though a couple of hell-hounds have their teeth in the seat of his trousers. Then it’s the composer’s turn to ignite the piano preceding another tutti passage. The Blues section is ushered in by Cunningham’s pizzicato and Wright, now on flute, handling the theme in unison with the muted Gillespie who then develops a series of sprightly arabesques before getting down to serious blues business with pyrotechnical flurries adding, as a coda, An English Country Garden. The baton passes to Wright, a superb and critically underrated jazz flautist who plays intense blues. Schifrin, in turn, exhibits impeccable blues credentials with stirring two-fisted piano, almost hi-jacking the evening.

Section three, Panamericana, is fully marinated in the exotic Afro-Cuban rhythms so beloved of Gillespie who prefaces his solo with an uninhibited wail followed by a series of impossibly difficult runs and Wright, back on full-throated alto, follows the leader. Then Schifrin pummels the left side of the keyboard before storming the barn with yet another stunning solo.

Gillespie kicks off the imaginative Africana section with a solo cadenza managing to sound simultaneously primitive and sophisticated before employing a mute to be joined by Wright, back on flute (with an occasional growl a la Rahsaan Roland Kirk) for the head plus solos over an insinuating rhythmic motif.
Toccata has alto and trumpet brooding darkly over a repeated fast boogie figure until Wright breaks loose with fierce cries over a rapidly-changing beat and intrepid rhythm section. Then Gillespie demonstrates his unassailable brilliance with a solo that must have left his audience stunned. And, were that not enough, Schifrin shows how locked hands can create excitement. However, the last word is left to Mel Lewis’s drums that speak volumes in an extended solo before the entire band emphatically states the final theme.

Instead of winding down, the evening winds up with a sixteen-and-a-half-minute version of Gillespie’s Kush, an atmospheric piece of exotica with minimalist harmonics inspired by his Asian tours, firmly established in the band’s repertoire, a shameless showcase for all the talents and everyone takes full advantage.

An audio wizard named Nils Winther has meticulously transferred, restored and mastered the original concert hall tapes so that we can all consider ourselves fortunate to relive such an astonishing and historic evening.

from https://ukjazznews.com