Dizzy Gillespie - Birk's Works: Verve Big Band Sessions

Dizzy Gillespie was many things--a great bop trumpeter, superbly prescient vocalist, awesome bandleader, international ambassador, crowd-pleasing humorist, the ultimate master of ceremonies--all sides of his massive talent amply displayed in this cornucopia of Gillespie big bands. The set collects three individual albums from 1956-57--"Birks Works," "Dizzy In Greece" and "World Statesman"--some alternate takes, and a fascinating sequence of attempts at "Left Hand Corner" that shows the band's dedication to perfection. Some of the great players on these sessions include Phil Woods and Ernie Henry on alto saxophones, Lee Morgan and Quincy Jones on trumpets, Al Grey on trombone, Walter Davis Jr., and Wynton Kelly on piano with Charli Persip on drums. And, of course, since it's Dizzy's band, everybody sings. --John Swenson Amazon.com

Big Band Dizzy

This Gillespie CD is the real deal. Excellent big band jazz that swings to the last drop. Too bad this group broke up. The Wilkins, Jones, Liston arrangements are right up there with the best arrangements offered by Ellington, Basie, Herman, Kenton, et al. There are some audio-tech glitches but so what. Dizzy in the mid-'50s had total command of his horn and of course this is highlighted to the max. This CD is a must for serious jazz collectors, Gillespie fans and big band nut-cases... September 14, 2008

Be-bop big band magic

First class be-bop!
Fabulous music from 3 Gillespie's LP's (plus some alternate takes and previously not published oddities) gives a great insight in the methods of adjusting the big-band format to modern jazz. Constantly exciting, with just a few commercial tracks, this collection is essential to any fan of modern jazz.
Feel free to ignore the comments about less-than-perfect audio engineering. July 19, 2006

A Real Legend

This is probably the best and only real documentation of Dizzy's big band of the late 1950's available on CD today.
It includes all the material they recorded on three albums released back then. Along with live at Newport, grab this while you can.

I'm not real big on the vocal numbers, but that's just Dizzy and the band having fun - once the band kicks in, it makes up for it all. Why shouldn't it? with a lineup of Wynton Kelly, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Quincy Jones - and the list goes on and on of great musicians on this CD, it will dazzle you.

Dizzy is in top form - his playing will bring a smile to your face on every tune! November 3, 2005

Magnificent

One word: MAGNIFICENT !!!

This 2CD represents enormous value in terms
of music (minutes played), and also, in terms
of quality of sound, clarity in the various
instruments, etc.

The big band sound, is slightly reminiscent
of Duke Ellington's Newport, or Thelonious
Monk's Big Band CD (orchestrated by Oliver
Nelson, I believe, called Plays the Blues),
for example.

There's several numbers with vocals accompanying
the music, and they are well thought out and
interesting in their own right, both male
and female voices.

As I said in the title...magnificent. January 28, 2004

Great material...some strange studio anomalies, though

Reviewer Nate Dorward has covered it well - all I would add is that another studio anomaly is the 'mysterious missing first line' in "School Days". Seriously though, for some real live fun on some of these same tunes from the same band, Check out the "Live at Newport 1957" recording. It covers a lot of this good territory. August 29, 2003

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