#dizzy gillespie

1, Is it Piano lead or Brass lead? If piano go to question two. If brass question three.

2, Does the Pianist sound like he’s taken all the acid, or is there a guy making love to an alto Sax?

Oh yeah: he’s taken all the acid alight. Is… is he okay? Thelonious Monk.

Oh yeah, some guy is going ham on an alto. Dave Burkbeck Quartet, Paul Desmond on the Alto.

Neither of the above: Duke Ellington.

3, If brass lead: is it Louis Armstrong? If Yes, it’s Louis Armstrong. If no, question four.

4, Does the Trumpet player make you feel sad? Even, dare I say, Blue?

Almost? Chet Barker

Kind of? Miles Davies.

If no, question five.

5, Is the trumpet player trying to blow your face clean off? Like, actively trying to kill the first row of the audience? Dizzy Gillespie.

It’s brass led, but Sax not Trumpet.  

Okay, technically thats a woodwind but moving on, question 6, isolate the strings: is Charles Mingus doing what he’s actually paid to do in the back of the ensemble, or is he dicking around and seeing how far a man can take a double bass before his band-mates kill him?

Seems to be playing normally: Charlie Parker

Ella Fitzgerald at the Downbeat, with Dizzy Gillespie making like a faun in the background, ca. September 1947.

Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie born on this day, in 1917.

Dizzy Gillespie Quintet - Tin Tin Deo (1966, BBC Show) @YouTube

Dizzy Gillespie, October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993.