When you get up in the morning, you must have a song - Ray Charles

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Dizzy Gillespie's Big 4

Hide the kids, cover the bird, put the dog out. You're going to have to turn this lp up. Rest assured Dizzy is going to wail. Not like he did 25 years earlier, but the man can entertain.

I can only believe that when these guys first met, Diz referenced Sonny Rollins' lp The Bridge. Not a tribute nor an imitation of that lp, Diz used the same line up and came up with a record that felt the same way.

This record never received the acclaim of The Bridge. I doubt if that was it's aspiration. A smoking session that is so over looked it is criminal.

One of my favorite covers, this shot from the recording session. You see the fun, you can only imagine the fire.

As with all these Pablo records, who've thunk it?

Dizzy Gillespie's Big 4

1. Tanga
2. Hurry Home
3. Russian Lullaby
4. BeBop (Dizzy's Fingers)
5. Birk's Works
6. September Song
7. Jitterbug Waltz


Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet
Ray Brown - bass
Joe Pass - guitar
Mickey Roker - drums

produced by Norman Granz
recorded 09/19/74

Pablo 2310 719

2 comments:

charlie said...

Hi, like you i've got rid of a lot of albums over the years - many of which, I wish now, I'd kept. Not everything is going to be re-released, is it?

I think this was one of them but I had a lot of those 'black and white' Pablos. Soon find out.

Anyway thanks for this and also for your witty commentaries which I enjoy reading.

Todd and Christie said...

This was the first LP I ever bought myself. It was in 1980, I think, and I was 12 years old. I still absolutely love every note on this album. Fine choice!