John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was one of the key figures of the bop movement. His most famous composition was the standard “A Night in Tunisia.”
Diz loved to clown and is known as much for his humor as for his playing. He was good at both, but often was criticized for “cutting the fool.” He may have liked to goof around, but he was serious about his music and he knew the difference. Let’s go to a story from Bill Crow’s classic Jazz Anecdotes:
For a while in the 1950s Dizzy had a small group that combined bebop with rhythm-and-blues, featuring songs like “School Days” and “You Stole My Wife, You Horse Thief.” While singing a simple riff tune called “Hey Pete, Let’s Eat Mo’ Meat” one night in a Los Angeles club, he noticed two hipsters at a front table making disparaging faces about this un-hip tune. After the vocal, Dizzy put his trumpet to his lips and played three of the most brilliant, explosive, difficult choruses ever played by any trumpet player. When he finished, he leaned over to the hipsters and said pointedly, “Seeee?”
Then he went right back to singing, “Hey Pete, Let’s Eat Mo’ Meat.”
Diz used to do a routine with James Moody — a mock fight. Diz and Moody would play in unison. Then they would simultaneously step up to the microphone to take a solo. They would bump into each other, which led to arguing, which led to pushing. Moody would reach into his pocket, as if for a weapon; Diz would do the same. They would circle each other, looking for an opening, and then spring at each other and go into a foxtrot.
On this track, while Frank Schifano (bass) and Candy Finch (drums) lay down an Afro Cuban groove. Dizzy (trumpet) and Moody (sax) trade verbal riffs, going from fake chanting to insults. At the three-minute mark, Mike Longo (piano) sweetly joins in, leading into a comic version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Thirty-two seconds later, the song shifts into a classic bop arrangement, which two minutes later switches back to the original groove, finally leading to Dizzy’s classic send-off: “Old Cadillacs never die. The finance company just fade ‘em away.” Recorded in May 1967, live at Memory Lane, one of the key L.A. jazz clubs of the time.
And here’s James Moody’s most famous work, “I’m In The Mood For Love,” which was later given vocalese lyrics by Eddie Jefferson and recorded by King Pleasure.
Dizzy Gillespie – Swing Low Sweet Cadillac — BUY
James Moody – I’m In The Mood For Love — BUY