Jazz Icons: Dizzy Gillespie Live in '58 and '70

Two very distinct sides of Dizzy Gillespie are on display in Live in '58 and '70, and it's a measure of the trumpeter's versatility that neither has a whole lot to do with his most famous contribution to the jazz artform--that being his "invention" (with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and others) of bebop. Recorded in Belgium, the '58 gig finds Diz leading a quintet that also includes the redoubtable bassist Ray Brown, saxophonist Sonny Stitt, and pianist Lou Levy. The repertoire is utterly hip, with a swinging version of Benny Golson's "Blues After Dark," Clifford Brown's burning "Blues Walk," the big band standard "Cocktails for Two" (played as a ballad and sounding not a bit like the more familiar Spike Jones arrangement), and the haunting "Lover Man," most closely associated with Billie Holiday (and a feature for Stitt, who spins out the speedy, fluid lines that often resulted in his being labeled a Parker clone); there's also "On the Sunny Side of the Street," in which Gillespie, always an amusing performer, substitutes his own lyrics as he and Stitt share vocal duties ("Life could be so fine/Fine as Manishewitz wine…"). A dozen years later, Dizzy's in Denmark, fronting a big band led by French pianist Francy Boland and drummer Kenny Clarke. Here we get a taste of the Afro-Cuban sounds that Gillespie first explored in the 1940s and '50s, including two of his own compositions, the lovely "Con Alma" and the classic "Manteca"; there's also the deep gospel-soul of bassist Jimmy Woode's "Now Hear My Meanin'" and the absolutely smoking "Things Are Here," performed at a pace that suggests big band bebop. And then there's Diz the emcee; whether thanking the bemused audience for their "profound ebullience" or picking up a noisy infant and gently admonishing him to shut up (a move that would probably earn him a child abuse citation nowadays but causes nary a ripple here), the guy knew he was there to entertain, not just play. Quite simply, there is nothing on this 85-minute disc--and that includes the astonishingly crisp sound a clear visuals, a hallmark of the Jazz Icons series--not to like. --Sam Graham

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