Jan 5, 2025
The speed of jazz music, 1950s-60s Francine Winham
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The speed of jazz music, 1950s-60s Francine Winham
An extremely dumb guid to “Which famous 60’s/70's Jazz man is that?”
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
He’s fucking around in F minor, and also that Bari sax is filthy! The Mingus Big band, with Ronnie Cuber on the Sax. EDIT: despite being a literal god with both clarinet and Alto Sax, and Take Five since becoming a clarinet standard, Paul Desmond only ever played Sax with the Dave Burkbeck Quartet, so this has been corrected. Thank you.
Ella Fitzgerald at the Downbeat, with Dizzy Gillespie making like a faun in the background, ca. September 1947.
Photo: William Gottlieb via the LoC
Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie born on this day, in 1917.
Dizzy Gillespie Quintet - Tin Tin Deo (1966, BBC Show) @YouTube
Personnel: Dizzy Gillespie, trumpet, vocal; James Moody, tenor sax, alto sax, flute; Kenny Barron, piano; Chris White, acoustic double bass; Rudy Collins, drums.
Dizzy Gillespie in Times Square. New York, 1962 by David Attie
Dizzy Gillespie, October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie are Horn Players, 1982.
DIZZY GILLESPIE, JAZZ
Dizzy Gillespie, Be-Bop