Now this
Naxos
historical
jazz
collection fulfills a crying need, succinctly summing up a critical slice of time where
bebop
is concerned. It covers the classic
bop
years from birth to fruition as heard through one of its inventors, raiding the archives of tiny defunct labels like
Manor
and
Guild
that sowed the seeds, as well as mega-giant
RCA Victor
, which continues to reap the harvest.
Gillespie
can first be heard in a hot solo with the
Lucky Millinder
big band
on
"Little John Special"
(1942) that perfectly bridges the transition between
swing
. Next is an early try at
"A Night in Tunisia"
(also known as
"Interlude"
) with the
Boyd Raeburn
. Four sides for
under the name
Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars
, with a rather eclectic front line (
, trombonist
Trummy Young
,
Don Byas
on tenor sax) culminate with the zany, defining
"Salt Peanuts."
After
"Cherokee,"
fronted by clarinetist
Joe Marsala
with a
rhythm section, comes three classic
sides --
"Groovin' High,"
"Blue 'N Boogie,"
"Shaw 'Nuff"
-- with
co-conspirator
Charlie Parker
blowing on the first and third and
Dexter Gordon
on the second. The
comes into view with
"Emanon"
for
Musicraft
, followed by a quartet of
sides featuring
's introduction of
Afro-Cuban
rhythms in
"Lover, Come Back to Me"
"Guarachi Guaro"
and part of a failed attempt to commercialize
in
"In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee."
Unlike most
Jazz Legends
packages, this one is organized roughly in chronological order, digressing only at the end with a backwards look at a couple of 1946 sessions for
Dial
(
"'Round Midnight"
) and
"Things to Come"
). With original pressings as sources,
' sound is serviceable and undistorted if somewhat veiled;
's own transfers on
The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
have more immediacy, but also unwanted distortion (both labels use CEDAR processing with entirely different results). ~ Richard S. Ginell