Record Reviews

DIZZY GILLESPIE ~ 20TH AND 30TH ANNIVERSARY MPS 4029759115540 (Barcode: 4029759115540) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1968 Released: 2016 This is a reissue of an album by American trumpeter / composer / bandleader Dizzy GillespieFind albums by this artist, which was his only album for MPSFind albums on this label and which was produced by the legendary Joachim BerendtFind albums by this artist. Gillespie, one of the Godfathers of Bebop, leads the incredible Reunion Big Band, which includes some of the best American Jazz musicians of the period, like trumpeters Jimmy OwensFind albums by this artist and Dizzy ReeceFind albums by this artist, trombonist Curtis FullerFind albums by this artist, saxophonists James MoodyFind albums by this artist and Sahib ShihabFind albums by this artist and many others. The album was recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonic during the concert that opened the 1968 edition of the annual Berlin Jazz Festival. The album presents six compositions, four of which were composed or co-composed by Gillespie. The music is the epitome the Bebop sub-genre in every respect, but here it gets expanded into the Big Band environment, which has a spectacular effect. The tight and catchy Bebop compositions are arranged into mini-suites with full blown orchestrations and lengthy solos, creating a continuous ecstatic up-tempo frenzy. The album is full of great individual statements and the Big Band plays like a perfectly oiled mean Jazz machine, which takes no prisoners. The overall result is a classic Jazz album, which marks the peak of the Bebop sub-genre, which means that any subsequently recorded Bebop albums are basically redundant and derivative. The original liner notes by Berendt tell the story of the album and its historic background, including what the two anniversaries mean, and as everything else written by Berendt are a great fun to read. Superbly recorded, this is an archetypal Jazz recording, which deserves to be a part of every serious Jazz collection. It´s great to have it back in circulation. Side Note The legendary German MPSFind albums on this label (Musik Produktion Schwarzwald) label, founded by Hans Georg Brunner-SchwerFind albums by this artist (HGBS) in 1963, first as SABAFind albums on this label Records and later on from 1968 as MPS Records, was the most important independent European record label, which had an enormous contribution to the development of European Jazz. For many years MPS cooperated with the legendary German producer / author Joachim BerendtFind albums by this artist, my Friend and Mentor, whose visionary approach and open-mindedness brought the crème de la crème of the Jazz (in the broadest meaning of the word) musicians from all over the world to the label. Between 1963 and 1983 MPS produced about five hundred albums, many of which are among the most important Jazz recordings on this planet. In 1983 the MPS catalog was sold to UniversalFind albums on this label, which sadly resulted in all those artistic treasures to almost disappear from the face of the earth – a situation not only tragic but culturally criminal. Universal reissued a part of the MPS albums (probably 128 titles) on CD between 1999 and 2011 under the "Most Perfect Sound Edition" moniker. Since 2008 the German Promising MusicFind albums on this label label released some of the MPS recordings, but at a very slow pace. In 2014 the German company Edel AG bought the MPS catalogue from Universal and released a series of 25 MPS albums on CD with a new slipcase graphic design, which brought all those excellent albums back to life. In 2015 Edel AG started to record and release new albums under the MPS moniker. In 2016 Edel AG released a series of 10 classic MPS albums on CD, which were beautifully remastered and re-packaged, presenting the original artwork and liner notes, as well as new liner notes and photographs. An obvious labor of love, these reissues are what the MPS catalogue truly deserves. This project was continued in 2017 with another series of 10 classic MPS albums released on CD. In later years some new reissues were released sporadically. Over the years many SABA / MPS albums were reissued in Japan, which is often the only available source for these albums today, but that is a story in itself.

Updated: 28/05/2018Posted: 06/12/2016

CD 1 Mini-Sleeve Remastered Recommend To A Friend

DIZZY GILLESPIE ~ POLISH RADIO JAZZ ARCHIVES VOL.25 POLSKIE RADIO 2057 (Barcode: 5907812249793) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1965 Released: 2016 This is the twenty-fifth installment in the series of releases initiated by the Polish Radio, which presents archive Jazz recordings from the radio vaults. Radio recordings are always a fabulous source of remarkable material, and as far as Polish Jazz history is concerned, the Polish Radio, which was a state monopoly for 45 years, recorded over time a plethora of invaluable material, which apart from the albums released by the Polskie Nagrania record company (also a state monopoly), is the only available additional source of Polish Jazz recordings. For many years Polish Radio recorded concerts presented during Poland´s most important Jazz venues, including the annual Jazz Jamboree Festival and many other festivals as well. The tracks presented here were recorded live on December 7, 1965 during the eighth Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw. The Dizzy GillespieFind albums by this artist Quintet included also saxophonist / flautist James MoodyFind albums by this artist, pianist Kenny BarronFind albums by this artist, bassist Chris WhiteFind albums by this artist and drummer Rudy CollinsFind albums by this artist. Of the seven tracks five are original compositions by Gillespie, one is by Moody and one is by Brazilian Godfather of Bossa Nova Antonio Carlos JobimFind albums by this artist. The Quintet plays a superb set, with Gillespie, the Godfather of Bee Bop, expanding the basic Jazz lines with World Music elements, being one of the earliest pioneers of Jazz-World Fusion. His love of Cuban and other Latin music motifs made him one of the great propagators of Latin Jazz. All the members of the Quintet are of course top class musicians. Especially interesting is the young Barron at the piano, later to become one of the great American pianists of all time. The historic importance of this album is to emphasize the crucial role that the Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw played for the entire Jazz scene behind the Iron Curtain. It was the only opportunity for the thousands of musicians and hundreds of thousands of fans living in the Socialist Countries to hear top Western Jazz musicians. The picture of the thick crowd in front of the Sala Kongresowa in Warsaw, trying desperately to get in, is something I will remember as long as I live. The yearning for Jazz was a yearning for Freedom, an expression of individuality and a window of hope in those long dreary years of the Socialist Regime. Therefore the Jazz Jamboree is something way beyond just a music festival, it should be remembered as a symbol of struggle for Freedom, and this is how the people organizing it envisaged it. The beautifully restored sound quality is excellent and the warm ambience of the analog recording is a true joy. As usual with this series, which is very reasonably priced, I miss the presence of "in depth" liner notes / booklet, which should convey the circumstances at which this music was recorded and its importance to the development of Jazz in Poland. Nevertheless this is an absolutely essential piece of Jazz history which every Jazz fan will surely consider an absolute must.

Updated: 03/10/2016Posted: 03/10/2016

CD 1 Digipak Remastered Recommend To A Friend