Dizzy Gillespie Live at Ronnie Scott’s Vol 4

About “Dizzy Gillespie Live at Ronnie Scott’s Vol 4”

In “I Told You So,” a 16-bar sambaesque Longo confection, Dizzy refers to “I Get the Neck of the Chicken” and “Laura.” Otherwise, he invents what musicians of his and earlier generations called “original stuff.” Gafa and Longo follow suit.

Gillespie announces that “Kush,” named for that ancient African kingdom, will feature Earl May. It does, 15 minutes into the 20-minute performance. First, Dizzy sets the exotic atmosphere in vocal exchanges with the band and the audience, employing Swahili chanting he learned from Chano Pozo, the great Cuban drummer who helped him introduce Afro-Cuban rhythms into modern jazz. Over the rhythm section vamp, he offers choruses of trumpet playing that suggest he was a long way from the decline some critics of the day claim to have detected. May’s solo reminds us that he was one of the few bassists able to transfer the heart and soul of the acoustic upright bass to the electric instrument.

Following a transition to “Summertime,” Gillespie sings Ira Gershwin’s lyric with asides probably not authorized by the Gershwin estate. He then solos angelically and at length, concluding with variations on a celebrated Gillespie run that give trumpeters something new to shoot for.

The Gillespie wig bubble introducing “Alligator” is in a league with the Gypsy kidnapping story. The composition is in a league with Longo’s best. In this piece and “Mike’s Samba” the pianist and Gafa solo as if they’re having so much fun, they fear that the evening is about to end and they won’t get to play again until the next night. In the samba, Dizzy’s playful, perfectly executed, downward slur in the opening, the joyous high-register “Blue Moon” quote in his solo and his general gusto leave no doubt that’s he’s enjoying himself as much as anyone on the stand or in the audience.

Ronnie Scott so enjoyed the band, and the business it brought his club, that he took the unusual step of asking Gillespie to extend the engagement beyond the two-week contract. Shrewdly negotiating, Scott got Dizzy to agree to stay an additional week and play for the profits from the club’s door charge. The crowds were so large that Gillespie made more than if he had been working under the contract. He gave Longo, Gafa, May, and Roker double salaries that week.

Don’t you love happy endings?