Dizzy Gillespie Live at Ronnie Scott’s Vol 2

About “Dizzy Gillespie Live At Ronnie Scott’s Vol 2”

Coming off 30 days of one-nighters in Europe, Dizzy Gillespie arrived in London with his quintet for a two-week engagement at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club on Frith Street in Soho. It was August of 1973. That summer, London was in the throes of the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s terror campaign. The troubles moved from Ireland to England in March when the IRA planted four car bombs. Two exploded, killing one person and injuring 180 others. Following a series of fatal explosions and bomb threats, the city was on edge, never knowing when or where the next blast might be. Gillespie, pianist Mike Longo; guitarist Al Gafa; bassist Earl May and drummer Mickey Roker found a city in apprehension.

“There was a bomb scare that day,” Gafa remembered. “I think a mailbox had blown up. Taking a cab to work, we had to go through police lines. There was a high amount of tension in the club. Everything was really quiet. The place was packed, but it just had a weird feeling.”

Gillespie’s ebullience and musicianship and the quality of his band would dispel the anxiety. In any event, unrest was rarely a feature of Scott’s club on Frith Street in Soho. The proprietor was as celebrated for his askew humor and laconic stewardship of the club as for his musicianship. His band introductions and asides to the audience were often standup comedy. A typical opening routine:

“It was very quiet last night. We had the bouncers chucking people IN. A guy rang up and asked, ‘What time does the show start?’ I said, ‘What time can you get here?’