Search - Dizzy Gillespie :: Dizzy in South America 1

In the summer of 1956, the famed Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell arranged for Dizzy Gillespie to embark on a worldwide goodwill-ambassador tour sponsored by the State Department. Gillespie and an all-star big band featuring trumpeter Quincy Jones, the late trombonist Melba Liston, alto saxophonist Phil Woods, and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson performed in Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil to frenzied, beret-wearing fans. Recordings were made but they weren't commercially available and were played only for a select group of musicians before Gillespie's death in 1993. Now the sides have been released, showcasing Dizzy at his bebopping best. Energized by his in-the-pocket rhythm section featuring the underrated piano of Walter Davis Jr., bassist Nelson Boyd, and drummer Charlie Persip, Gillespie launches into his routinely impossible, stratospheric solos on Tadd Dameron's "Cool Breeze" and the Afro-Cubop numbers "A Night in Tunisia" and "Manteca." His renditions of the ballads "I Can't Get Started" and "Stella by Starlight" highlight his often-overlooked balladering voice, while the good-time jump tune "School Days" brings out the crowd-pleasing, dizzy side of Diz with zany vocals that translate into any language. --Eugene Holley Jr.