Dizzy Gillespie - Live in Montreal (Montreal Jazz Festival)
Recorded at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1981, this made-for-Canadian-TV concert special could be subtitled "The Funky Dizzy." With his four-piece band, he hips his way through updated--and now dated, truth be told--versions of old hits and new untitled instrumentals. Not that hearing Dizzy backed by funk bass and wah-wah guitar isn't a pretty groovy experience, because it is. Who knew "Night in Tunisia" could groove the way it does here? Although novice fans might be disappointed, check this baby out if you want to hear Diz keeping up with the times and, for the most part, succeeding.--Kristian St. Clair