Dizzy Gillespie Big Band

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Dizzy Gillespie (left) and Big Band (with John Lewis, Cecil Payne, Miles Davis and Ray Brown; Photo: William P. Gottlieb between 1946 and 1948 in New York)

The Dizzy Gillespie Big Band (also Dizzy Gillespie's Big Band , Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra or Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra ) was an American big band led by Dizzy Gillespie , which existed from 1946 to 1950 and from 1956 to 1962. Beyond the big band founded by Billy Eckstine in 1944, they are considered to be the first large-format band to “make bebop their signature sound and style.” By 1947 at the latest, the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, Joachim-Ernst Berendt , “was the valid transformation of bop in large-scale jazz successful. "

The beginnings in 1945

Dizzy Gillespie, who had played in countless swing big bands from the 1930s, most recently with Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra , made his first attempt in mid-1945 by founding his own orchestra. This was preceded by two successful concerts in New York's Town Hall with Charlie Parker , which led Milt Shaw, the father of Gillespie's personal manager Billy Shaw, to help the trumpeter found his own big band. It was decided on a tour "package" from the Gillespie band, a dance couple, two comedians and the singer June Eckstine under the title Hep-Sensation of '45 . The 16-member Gillespie band included a. also Kenny Dorham , Charlie Rouse and Max Roach ; Gil Fuller wrote some of the arrangements and conducted the rehearsals.

“Nevertheless, the tour turned out to be a fiasco ,” wrote the Gillespie biographer Jürgen Wölfer . “When the musicians heard that it was going to the southern states , they quit in a row. […] When the Mason-Dixon line was crossed, Gillespie practically had a new band with some inexperienced musicians. In addition, many ballroom managers complained that the music was 'inaccessible', so that he had to limit himself to stick arrangements and the blues . ”A tour with Ella Fitzgerald in the southwest of the USA was hardly more successful. At the end of 1945 Gillespie broke up the band.

The big band 1946–1950

1946

Occupation 1946
Trumpet: Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Burns, Raymond Orr, Talib Dawud , John Lynch
Trombone: Alton Moore, Leon Comegys, Charles Greenlee
Alto saxophone: John Brown, Howard Johnson
Baritone saxophone: Pee Wee Moore
Tenor saxophone: Ray Abrams, Warren Luckey
Piano: Milt Jackson
Bass: Ray Brown
Drums: Kenny Clarke
Arrangement: Gil Fuller

The following year, Chuck Monroe suggested to him at a sextet session for the Musicraft Records label to try again to found a big band that would appear on Spotlite . Gil Fuller reorganized the band and "wrote arrangements in connection with Gillespie, with the two finding a match previously only found with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn ".

On February 22, 1946, Gillespie recorded three tracks with the big band, 52nd Street Theme , A Night in Tunisia and Charlie Parker's Anthropology . Billy Eckstine's band repertoire included ten arrangements, including Our Delight , Cool Breeze and Good Bait by Tadd Dameron . The musicians now included the saxophonists Sonny Stitt , Howard Johnson and Ray Abrams , the young trumpeter Dave Burns , Ray Brown , Milt Jackson and the drummer Kenny Clarke , who had previously finished military service. Thelonious Monk sat briefly at the piano in March and April before he was replaced in June by John Lewis , whom Kenny Clarke introduced to Gillespie. Spotlite owner Clark Monroe had put pressure on Gillespie to fire "the incompetent pianist".

In March 1946 Gillespie signed the record deal with Musicraft using the pseudonym B. Bopstein ; the recordings were made from May to July 1946, including the titles Our Delight and Things to Come . For the third session in November, Kenny Hagood was the band singer who replaced vocalist Alice Roberts.

"Overall, the Gillespie band had few outstanding soloists in addition to the leader and the rhythm section , apart from James Moody , who joined the band in the middle of the year," wrote Wölfer; "Gillespie made up for this shortcoming with an enormous joy in playing and a lot of enthusiasm, which allowed the band to exist for a good four years." The strength of the orchestra was its massive ensemble play and energy, wrote Alyn Shipton, "coupled with the athletic trumpet playing of its leader". Jazz critic Ira Gitler wrote:

“To be in the little club, the Spotlite, with the low ceiling, and then hear this band play Things to Come . It could take off. Incredible. Definitely one of the most exciting experiences you could ever have. "

Tadd Dameron. Photo: Gottlieb.

Ralph J. Gleason was a big fan of the band: "The energy that was released was sensational."

Kenny Clarke's membership in the big band had a big influence on the music of the Gillespie Orchestra, Ray Brown later said. The drummer himself said: “The power, the rhythm, the harmonies of this band were something I had never heard before. You cannot imagine what it was like to experience this. It was a wonderful part of my life [...] Dizzy was the linchpin. "

Ray Brown himself gave Gil Fuller thematic ideas that Fuller worked into his arrangements, such as Ray's Idea , One Bass Hit and Oop Bop Sh'bam - Brown is named as co-composer for the last two compositions.

The rhythm section was essentially the forerunner of the Modern Jazz Quartet ; She had her first appearances independently of Gillespie in Small's Paradise in Harlem , announced as The Atomics of Modern Music with James Moody, according to Dizzy's New Winning Rave tenor saxophonist .

Tadd Dameron's arrangements also contributed to the success of the big band , of which Frank Foster said: “What I admired about Tadd wasn't his unconventionality, but rather the fact that he composed so beautifully. His voicings were great ”. However, because of Monk's dismissal, Dameron's relationship with Gillespie cooled. John Lewis also contributed complete arrangements to the repertoire, as did Emanon in 1946.

On June 28, 1946, Spotlite's engagement was interrupted for a week-long appearance at the Apollo Theater , which band leader Gillespie touted as The New All-American Trumpet Star . This was followed by concerts in Pennsylvania , Ohio and Indiana , before the band came to Chicago , where they played alongside Ella Fitzgerald and her trio, after further appearances in St. Louis and Peoria in September at the Savoy Ballroom. occurred. In continuing the tour (together with Ella Fitzgerald, who gave the big band its prestige, according to John Lewis) Gillespie tried to avoid the mistakes of the previous year's tour and avoided the states of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The tour was still a financial disaster for Gillespie and Billy Shaw.

In the second half of 1946, the music film about the Gillespie big band, Jivin 'in Bebop (produced by William D. Alexander), in which the vocalists Hagood and Helen Humes also have their appearances. Gillespie, who interspersed his appearance with shows from black entertainment, and his band play a total of eight songs, including Salt Peanuts , One Bass Hit, Oop Bop Sh'Bam and He Beeped When He Should Have Bopped . While the camera is directed at the dancers, it interprets - mimicking the game with previously recorded material - Shaw 'Nuff, A Night in Tunisia , Grosvenor Square and Ornithology .

Milt Jackson, New York, around 1947. Photo: Gottlieb.

1947

In the meantime, the Gillespie band had become known nationwide through radio broadcasts from the Spotlite ; so that the music industry became aware of them. In 1947, Gillespie was the first bebop musician to receive a record deal with RCA Victor , at that time one of the three major labels in the USA alongside Columbia and Decca . Shortly before the recording date on August 22, 1947, an engagement of several weeks at the Downbeat jazz club on 52nd Street, Gillespie's headquarters, ended during this phase. His soloists in the summer of 1947 included James Moody, Cecil Payne ("Stay on It"), Milt Jackson and Ray Brown. The drummer Joe Harris , who had replaced Kenny Clarke, made an important contribution .

According to Stephanie Stein Crease, the Gillespie big band developed its own aesthetic: “The goal wasn't to please the dancers, but rather to articulate the concepts that Dizzy had helped develop: extended harmonies, asymmetrical phrasing, a driving percussive direction and a healthy mix from improvisation and detailed arrangement. Some of the arrangements for Dizzy's big band integrated the soloist into the ensemble playing to a much greater extent than the theme-solo-solo-solo-theme format of the small combos. "

During this time, Gillespie explored the relationship between written and improvised parts with Gil Evans , John Lewis, George Russell and Gerry Mulligan , which had radically shifted from the traditional big band arrangements to the small ensembles of bebopers.

In autumn 1947 Gillespie met Mario Bauzá , whom he knew from Chick Webb's orchestra and who had given him his first knowledge of Cuban rhythm. Bauza knew that the trumpeter wanted to bring a conga player into the orchestra in order to give his orchestrations a “solid African foundation” and recommended him the abakuá follower Chano Pozo , who had extensive knowledge of Cuban polyrhythmics . In this way, Gillespie was able to " capture the exciting atmosphere of machito music and realize it as part of a jazz big band."

“Gillespie immediately recognized the opportunities Pozo would open up for his band and hired him on the spot. Although Pozo could not read music, he was a talented composer . He just sang his ideas to Gil Fuller, who wrote them down. Pozo made his debut on September 29, 1947 at a Carnegie Hall concert organized by Leonard Feather . Pozo was already there at the next record session for RCA in December. "

Occupation 1947
Trumpet: Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Burns, Matthew McKay, Raymond Orr, Elmon Wright
Trombone: Taswell Baird , Bill Shepherd
Alto saxophone: John Brown, Howard Johnson
Baritone saxophone: Cecil Payne
Tenor saxophone: Joe Gayles, James Moody
Piano: John Lewis
Bass: Ray Brown
Drums: Joe Harris
Percussion: Chano Pozo
Arrangement: Gil Fuller

On December 22nd, Algo Bueno , a Latin version of Woody'n You was recorded, as well as a longer composition by George Russell , Cubana Be-Cubana Bop , which was released on two sides of a shellac record . On December 30th he wrote Pozos Manteca , with Tin-Tin-Deo the most famous composition of the musician who was murdered at the end of 1948. The title became a bestseller for RCA and has long been part of Dizzy Gillespie's repertoire.

1948-1950

From January to March 1948, the big band went on a European tour, which, according to Alyn Shipton, was a "musical triumph". The first stop was Gothenburg , where the band arrived by ship on January 26th. Even if the accompanying circumstances were chaotic at first - the musicians were seasick and tired; The Swedish concert promoter embezzled part of the fee - “The ten days in Sweden were a complete success, the audience and the critics reacted enthusiastically.” A Swedish music critic wrote: “There is no doubt that the bebop sil is the music of the future will affect ".

Charles Delaunay 1946. Photo: William P. Gottlieb .

In Paris, where Charles Delaunay and the Hot Club de France had accepted the band, the audience was supposedly even more enthusiastic than in Sweden: the orchestra played several sold-out concerts in the Salle Pleyel , Les Ambassadeurs and the Champs from February 20th -Elysees Club . One of the Pleyel concerts was recorded by the French jazz label Swing . The conservative critic Hugues Panassié , however, said after leaving the Pleyel concert: "I love jazz - but that is not jazz!"

Most lasting for the musicians was the experience of artistic recognition and the lack of racial barriers; Kenny Clarke, who had recently rejoined the band, then decided to stay in France. Back in the United States followed concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall as well as at the Cricket Club and at Billy Berg’s in Hollywood, where Gillespie had performed unsuccessfully with Charlie Parker two years earlier.

Upon their return, the band had a welcome party at the Ebony Club ; however, it was not until April 1949 that Gillespie began working with the big band again when he performed again at the Apollo Theater and went on tour again.

Despite the success of Afro-Cuban jazz , the economic situation for big bands in the United States became increasingly difficult in the late 1940s; Concert dates became rarer, dance halls and ballrooms closed. While Benny Goodman , the Casa Loma Orchestra , the Count Basie Orchestra and Woody Herman and His Orchestra gave up in 1948, Gillespie tried to persevere with new musicians and a more "popular" repertoire; "Such unspeakable Schmonzetten" emerged like Hey Pete, Let's Eat Mo 'Meat or In the Land of Oo-bla-dee . In 1949 the record contract with RCA expired and was not renewed. This was followed by eight more titles for Capitol in late 1949 and January 1950 , in which Paul Gonsalves , Jimmy Heath and the young John Coltrane played before Gillespie disbanded the big band in early 1950.

The big band 1956–1958

After several studio projects (in which, for example, the trumpeter's regular quintet (with Hank Mobley ) was expanded into a big band, as was the case with a session for Norman Granz on September 16, 1954 ), there was another Gillespie big band in 1956 after he had received the contract had to put together a State Department sponsored band to tour Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Quincy Jones was entrusted with the organization to set up a multiracial band; supported by trombonist and arranger Melba Liston (as the only woman in the men's band) and Ernie Wilkins , he led the rehearsals. The band also consisted of Frank Rehak , Joe Gordon , Ermett Perry , Carl Warwick , Rod Levitt , Phil Woods , Jimmy Powell , Billy Mitchell , Marty Flax , Walter Davis Jr. , Nelson Boyd , Charlie Persip and the vocalists Dottie Walters and Herb Lance.

The tour led through countries that were contractually linked to the USA and in which there were military bases ; Gillespie then played several LPs with the band for Norman Granz 'label Norgran and Verve in New York, Dizzy in Greece and World Statesman , before a tour of South America followed. After their return to the USA, the big band played for the first time in front of a home audience at the jazz festival on Randalls Island . Also in the band were Lee Morgan , Talib Dawud and Wynton Kelly . in July 1957, the big band performed at the Newport Jazz Festival , with Mary Lou Williams as a guest, who played three movements from their Zodiac Suite with the band . At the beginning of 1958 the big band was dissolved due to economic problems.

Excursus: The Gillespie Big Band as cultural ambassadors in the service of US foreign policy

Gillespie, international star and protagonist of bebop, and his band were to become musical ambassadors of the USA on the initiative of Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and thus an important cultural instrument of the Cold War . This was suggested by Powell Gillespie on a visit to Washington in the presence of numerous reporters. In 1955, after attempting to do this with classical music was not quite as successful, the State Department recognized "the fascination of jazz as an inherent American art form." From this the concert series Jazz Ambassadors developed .

The US government chose jazz for its cultural “crusade” not only because of its American origins, but also because jazz seemed to evade intra-American racial conflict , stated Scott Gac in his study of cultural initiatives in US foreign policy Cold War using the example of the Gillespie tours of 1956/57. In 1956, the year of the Montgomery Bus Boycott , the US State Department sponsored an international tour of the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band as a jazz orchestra without racial barriers. Various host countries such as Iran expressed their displeasure with the performance of the musicians; Gillespie called his orchestra an " American assortment of blacks, whites, men, women, Jews and Goyim ."

Phil Woods (2007)

Gillespie addressed the (white) musicians Phil Woods and Rod Levitt as well as the female band members Dotty Saulter and Melba Liston. The women in the group and the religious beliefs of some musicians provoked in some host states. During a layover at Cairo Airport , Levitt recalls, a virulent anti-Israel propaganda film was shown after free drinks . Gillespie, who laughed about it most of the time, turned to Levitt, who was of Jewish faith, and asked, “How do you like it?” In Pakistan , Lewitt was initially refused entry into Syria because he was “Jewish” by the creed Had entered the visa form. The State Department resolved the situation by listing him as a Christian on his visa and allowing him to leave Karachi. For the Muslim countries, the independence of the two women in the band was also a problem; Melba Liston recalled questions about women's equality in the US: I had lots of women come to me in the Middle East tours to find out how life was over here for women and how in the world I could be running around there traveling and single .

As early as February 1956, a newspaper article entitled “Dizzy to Rock India” reported in the New York Times about Dizzy Gillespie's upcoming ten-week tour of India, the Middle East and the Balkans . However, the State Department tour began with a political incident. Shortly before the band's flight to Bombay, tensions between India and the United States escalated, which initially led to concert cancellations. In April 1956, the New York Times headlined a report "Professor Joins the Gillespie Band" ; Marshall Stearns , jazz historian and professor at Hunter College who taught a jazz class at the New School, took on the role of the group's music teacher during the tour. For four weeks, Stearns told the audience all about jazz at the concerts before Gillespie and orchestra came on stage.

In his 1956 study Jazz Strategy: Dizzy, Foreign Policy, and Government , historian Scott Gac concludes:

“Jazz was a 'weapon of sound' for the US government. Cheaper than developing new arms, jazz was sent on the almost impossible mission of fighting the perception of the United States as a racist society. At the height of black protests and the response from the South , State Department officials stood in their support of jazz and continued the program at a time when the federal government was perceived as aloof from the racial issue. "
Barry Goldwater, 1962

The racism at the time in the USA in connection with the Gillespie tour shows a letter that Senator Barry Goldwater wrote to Robert C. Hill , the head of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs at the State Department. Goldwater could not understand that "a negro band leader" could contribute something to the "musical life of our country"; Gillespie had been preferred to a local band from Goldwater's home state of Arizona , the Tucson Kids Band .

Gillespie was by no means functionalized by the US government at the concerts. In June 1956 there was a scandal in Turkey when Gillespie refused to play exclusively in front of the invited guests of the US embassy and the concert only began when the ambassador had children waiting in front of the building also listen; something similar happened in Dhaka . In Damascus he interrupted the concert because of Ramadan , so that the audience had the opportunity to break the fast at sunset . He was aware of the government's intentions when he was supposed to travel to the Middle East in 1956. When the State Department wanted to admit him before the tour, Gillespie refused, saying that he knew the United States well enough and could give honest answers without being instructed by diplomats.

Gillespie said he tried not to hide the social contradictions in the USA; “I said: yes ... we have our problems, but we are working on it. I'm the head of this band and these white guys work for me. That's a huge thing. "

Gillespie put it this way in his letter to President Eisenhower at the end of the tour:

"I urge you to do all in your power to continue exploiting this valuable form of American expression of which we are so proud".

After the tour, the State Department in an article (1957) defended the inclusion of music in cultural diplomacy policy against accusations that jazz was sponsored. It was of the opinion that the tour had influenced the situation in such a way that communist governments are now "more friendly to the USA". State Department's Donald B. Cook defended the Gillespie tours - there were already two at the time - saying that “The $ 141,000 government invested in the tours of Dizzy Gillespie's jazz band helped offset reports of racial prejudice against them United States stoke ”. Gillespie himself expressed this in his letter to President Eisenhower:

"Our trip to the Middle East proved convincingly that our multiracial group was tremendously effective against red propaganda."

Further big band projects

After 1958, Gillespie performed mainly with smaller ensembles, “but used every opportunity to appear in front of a big band. One such opportunity was a Duke Ellington album with arrangements by Clare Fischer in 1960 and the Carnegie Hall concert on March 4, 1961, for which the regular Gillespie quintet with New York studio musicians was enlarged to form a big band: “They played along him u. a. Clark Terry , Nick Travis , Britt Woodman , Gunther Schuller , Don Butterfield and Lalo Schifrin . In the same year Perceptions was created , a commission by Gillespies for J. J. Johnson and in 1962 his composition The New Continent ( Limelight Records ). In 1963 the trumpeter played under the direction of Gil Fuller with the Monterey Festival Orchestra at the jazz festival of the same name . In 1968, George Wein put together a reunion big band for a tour, the highlight of which was the Berlin Jazz Days , in which musicians from previous big bands played, such as James Moody, Ted Kelly , Cecil Payne and Sahib Shihab from the big band of the 1940s and with Curtis Fuller from the State Department Band. There were also musicians like Stu Hamer , Mike Longo , Jimmy Owens , Dizzy Reece and Chris Woods .

Gillespie went into the studio with Machito and his orchestra in 1975 (Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods) , with Lalo Schifrin's big band in 1977 (Free Ride) . In 1979 he performed with Woody Shaw's big band at the Monterey Jazz Festival . In 1988 Gillespie founded the United Nations Orchestra, another big band, this time with international players, with whom he toured Egypt, Morocco, Canada, Europe and South America for several years ( Live at the Royal Festival Hall , 1989).

After Dizzy Gillespie's death in 1993, the tradition of the Gillespie big band was continued in an all-star formation with well-known musicians, including Randy Brecker , Cyrus Chestnut , Ed Cherry , Steve Davis , Paquito D'Rivera , Greg Gisbert , Roy Hargrove , Antonio Hart , John Lee , Lewis Nash , Claudio Roditi , Gary Smulyan and Terrell Stafford .

Discographic notes

Kenny Clarke

Single issues

  • The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1937-49)
  • Algo Bueno: The Complete Bluebird / Musicraft Recordings & The Pleyel Concert (1946–49), with Milt Jackson , Cecil Payne, Ray Brown, Willie Bobo , Yusef Lateef , Johnny Hartman , Leo Parker , John Lewis, Sonny Stitt , Kenny Dorham, James Moody, Ernie Henry , Al McKibbon
  • Dizzy Gillespie Big Band / Chubby Jackson Sextet / James Moody Jam Session: Bebop Enters Sweden 1947-49 ( Dragon Records )
  • Dizzy Goes to College (Jazz Showcase, 1947)
  • Pleyel 1948 (Arpeggio, 1948)
  • Dizzy Gillespie and His Big Band Featuring Chano Pozo - In Concert (GNP Crescendo, 1948, ed. 1993)
  • Afro Cuban Jazz (Verve, 1949–51), with Machito , Chico O'Farrill , Dizzy Gillespie
  • Diz Big Band (Verve, 1956)
  • Gene Norman Presents: Dizzy Gillespie and His Big Band ( GNP Crescendo Records , 1957)
  • Dizzy in Greece (Verve, 1957)
  • Birks' Works (Verve, 1957)
  • Dizzy Gillespie at Newport (Verve, 1957), with Benny Golson , Charlie Persip
  • A Portrait of Duke Ellington (Verve, 1960)
  • Gillespania - Carnegie Hall Concert (Verve, 1960/61)
  • Gil Fuller & The Monterey Festival Orchestra Featuring Dizzy Gillespie ( Pacific Jazz Records , 1963)
  • The Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Big Band - 20th & 30th Birthday (MPS, 1968)

Compilations

  • Compact Jazz: Dizzy Gillespie Big Band (Verve, ed. 1992)
  • Birk's Works: Verve Big Band Sessions (Verve, ed. 1995)
  • Complete Big Band Studio Sessions 1946–1960 (ed. 2011)

literature

  • Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie . Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-514410-4 .
  • Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. Oreos, Waakirchen 1987, ISBN 3-923657-16-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ e.g. on Good Dues Blues / Our Delight ( Parlophone )
  2. ↑ for example on Say when / You stole my wife - You horse Thief on Capitol
  3. ↑ a b c Stephanie Stein Crease: Gil Evans: Out of the Cool - His Life and Music. A Cappella Books / Chicago Review Press, Chicago 2002, p. 137.
  4. ↑ a b Joachim E. Berendt: The great jazz book. From New Orleans to Jazz Rock. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1983, p. 400.
  5. ↑ a b c Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. Oreos, Waakirchen 1987, p. 38 f.
  6. ↑ a b c Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 43 f.
  7. ↑ Recordings were made with Monk, who also played in the Coleman-Hawkins Quartet in the club , only during radio recordings. See Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 184 f.
  8. ↑ a b c d e Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 187 ff.
  9. ↑ a b Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 181 ff.
  10. ↑ Gillespie probably didn't quite trust her talent, says Jürgen Wölfer: “The existence of an alternate take by He Beeped ... with a vocal chorus by Gillespie proves that even back then you didn't really trust the lady's singing skills, but you did decided to publish their version. ”Cf. Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 89.
  11. ^ Musicraft discography
  12. ^ "To be in that little club, the Spotlite, with its low ceiling and hear that band play Things to Come . It would take your head off. Incredible. Definitely one of the most exciting experiences you could ever have. "
  13. ^ "The power, the rhythm, the harmonies of that band were like something I'd never heard before. You can't imagine what it was like to play in. It was a wonderful part of my life. [...] Diz was a pivot. "
  14. ↑ a b c d Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 189 ff.
  15. ↑ At the piano sat their musical director Raymond Tunia .
  16. ↑ a b Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 193 ff.
  17. ↑ a b Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 184 f.
  18. ↑ cf. IMDb and Scott Yanow: Jazz on Film: The Complete Story of the Musicians & Music Onscreen. Backbeat Books, San Francisco 2004, pp. 80-82.
  19. ↑ a b Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 46 f.
  20. ^ Charles Keil: Urban Blues: With a New Afterword. University of Chicago Press, Chicago a. a. 1991, ISBN 0-226-42960-1 , p. 45.
  21. ↑ a b Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 200 f.
  22. ↑ a b c Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 48 ff.
  23. ↑ a b Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 202 f.
  24. ↑ On the trip, John Lewis had given the musicians, including Benny Bailey , lessons in music theory . See Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 202 f.
  25. ↑ a b Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High. The Life of Dizzy Gillespie. 1999, p. 207 f.
  26. ↑ a b Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 50 ff.
  27. ↑ a b Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 62 ff.
  28. ↑ Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 64 ff.
  29. ^ Dizzy Gillespie & Al Fraser: To Be or Not to Bop: Memoirs of Dizzy Gillespie . New York: Da Capo Press, 1979. p. 413
  30. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Scott Gac: Jazz Strategy: Dizzy, Foreign Policy, and Government in 1956. In: Americana 4/2005. Retrieved June 4, 2015 .
  31. ^ Dizzy Gillespie & Al Fraser: To Be or Not to Bop: Memoirs of Dizzy Gillespie. Da Capo Press, New York 1979, p. 414.
  32. ↑ The letter read: “This particular item has reference to the recent tour of a negro band leader, Dizzy Gillespie, which apparently involved an expenditure by the Federal Government of the outrageous sum of $ 100,839… Without any intention of criticizing you, I am wondering just what there is about a program of this type which would more properly fulfill the government objectives in the area of ​​cultural assistance to foreign countries as opposed to the excellent presentation offered by a group of young boys who have joined together for the purpose of contributing to the musical life of our country, and who have indicated a willingness to share these accomplishments with peoples abroad. " (National Archives at College Park, inventory: General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; 032 Tucson Kids Band, Letter to Robert C. Hill, April 19, 1957, quoted from Scott Gac Jazz Strategy: Dizzy, Foreign Policy , and Government in 1956 2005.)
  33. ↑ "They laid it all right in front of me, and I sort've liked the idea of ​​representing America, but I wasn't going over to apologize for the racist policies of America." Gillespie explained to his wife, “I've got three hundred years of briefing. I know what they've done to us, and I'm not gonna make any excuses. If they ask me questions, I'm gonna answer them as honestly as I can ”. Based on Dizzy Gillespie & Al Fraser: To Be or Not to Bop: Memoirs of Dizzy Gillespie. Da Capo Press, New York 1979, p. 414.
  34. ↑ In full length in the original: “They [foreign audiences] could see it wasn't as intense because we had white boys and I was the leader of the band. That was strange to them because they'd heard about blacks being lynched and burned, and here I come with half whites and blacks and a girl playing in the band. And everybody seemed to be getting along fine. So I didn't try to hide anything. I said, 'Yeah, ... We have our problems but we're still working on it. I'm the leader of this band, and those white guys are working for me. That's a helluva thing. '”(After Dizzy Gillespie & Al Fraser: To Be or Not to Bop: Memoirs of Dizzy Gillespie. Da Capo Press, New York 1979, p. 421)
  35. ↑ Jürgen Wölfer: Dizzy Gillespie. 1987, p. 147 f.
  36. ↑ Gillespie discography jazzdisco.org
  37. ↑ Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band