Dizzy Gillespie: Concert In Paris

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Italian release
Both “Made in U.S.A by Roulette Records, Inc.” and “Made in Italy” appear on label.

Text on back cover:

When the French “Jazzbeau’ introduces these sides, his announcement of the principal artist is merely…”Et” — Dizzy!” At that, the applause is spontaneous and warm.

Unquestionably Dizzy’s prominence abroad as well as in America is phenomenal, therefore it is natural that Roost should add another great album to those already illustrating his European endeavors. This is the reason for the release of the exciting “CONCERT IN PARIS” sides. The album is a happy choice of French atmosphere due to the bits of dialogue included and music that swings via Dizzy.

With his own unit around him, Dizzy moves through a colorful combination of themes. Especially good is “My Man” with a nice backing for Dizzy by Wade Legge on piano. Bill Graham does some fine phrasing behind trumpet on “Good Bait.” The most fun of all, though, is “I’ve Got the Bluest Blues” with everybody getting in their special ‘licks’. Joe Caroll does some singing on this one and the entire thing swings. Caroll also sings with Dizzy on “The Champ” and it’s a successful venture.

Dizzy controls the entire nine sides but it must be noted that the contrapuntal methods he is known for are still at work here with Wade Legge, and more particularly, Bill Graham supplying the major part. The group, other than Joe Carroll as vocalist, consists of Lou Hackney on ‘Contra Bass’ as indicated in the French introduction, and Al Jones on drums.

Naturally the success of any one musician in a small combo depends largely on the muscians he surrounds himself with and for someone as thorough-going in musicianship at Dizzy Gillespie is, it is naturally more important. All of the musicians in his group are young and because of this, easily adaptable to new ideas and they themselves generate a certain original genius. It’s a compact and harmonious group. As is audible from the records they are well-received by audiences not only for their talent but for their amiability on the stand as well. Dizzy of course, is a fine showman and Joe Carroll and Bill Graham complement his personality.

These sides will gall among the jazz collector’s items of our times for they are part of the musical chronology of possibly the greatest imaginative figure in the ‘Bop’ era. No single musician has ever had more adulation than Dizzy. No other jazz musician has experienced more world-wide acclaim. No other musician could ever ‘get away’ with what Dizzy has managed to happily ‘get away’ with on the stand. No other trumpeter in the progressive jazz idiom can claim sole priority over his ‘progressive’ ideas for almost invariably they are attributable and are a tribute to the creator of the sounds on trumpet with which we are familiar today. The impact of his figure on the jazz world is such that he almost a myth in musicology. The Beret. The Goatee, The Thick-Rimmed Glasses. The Scatting. The Bop Talk. They all manifest a personality — and they manifest a beginning of an era. But the important thing about all this is that Dizzy, like Bird, and Max, and the Pres, and Bud, still is creating and still retaining a highly personal and therefore, highly original music.

It is the same exciting Gillspie trumpet that blows on “CONCERT IN PARIS”