Bebop – 1981

Dizzy Gillespie

A stirring performance with an all-star group

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Dizzy Gillespie (1917-93) was still in prime form in 1981 as the trumpeter neared his 64th birthday.

In Europe at that year’s North Sea Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s regular quartet with guitarist Ed Cherry, electric bassist Michael Howell, and drummer Tommy Campbell was augmented by two notable guests, both of whom were in Gillespie’s big band of the late 1940s: vibraphonist Milt Jackson and tenor-saxophonist James Moody.

On Gillespie’s “Bebop,” there are inventive solos from Jackson, Moody, Gillespie, Cherry and Campbell along with a cheerful group spirit as they perform a timeless classic.

-Scott Yanow

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