At Newport
Besides Dizzy Gillespie, no founding father of modern jazz had the tenacity to keep a big band together for an extended period of time. Gillespie managed to do it in the late 1940s and then again in the mid-'50s, creating electrifying music in the process. The band of the 1950s toured the world extensively under U.S. State Department auspices, honing tight sectional play and developing explosive power on a book of new arrangements. Those strengths show in this 1957 Newport appearance, both on the extended treatments of Gillespie's earlier masterpieces, such as "A Night in Tunisia" and "Manteca," and on new material, including Ernie Wilkins's arrangement ofHorace Silver's "Doodlin'" and Benny Golson's lustrous "I Remember Clifford." Whether doing comic vocals or letting his trumpet soar over the charging band, Gillespie is in magnificent form here, supported by Golson and Billy Mitchell on tenors, altoistErnie Henry, and pianistWynton Kelly. The concert also includes selections fromMary Lou Williams's "Zodiac Suite," with the composer joining the band on piano.--Stuart Broomer