The Compositions of Dizzy Gillespie


Yep, today it's The Compositions of Dizzy Gillespie, because Kris Karr mentioned playground merry-go-rounds, and i have an album for that.

Dizzy, Monk, and Bird are like the My Three Dads of Bebop. It took 20-30 years for the jazz world to catch up. Cab Calloway didn't like his adventurous approach to soloing, but i imagine it was getting stabbed after blaming him for blowing spitballs in rehearsal that really soured their relationship. 

Hey Diz, how'd you get fired? 

Stabbed the bandleader in his thigh. Wouldn't even let me apologize or nothin'. 

Yep, that'd do it.

True story. Wanna hear another one? He declared himself a write in candidate for the 1964 presidential election and listed Phyllis Diller as his running mate. Man, i'd love to live in that world today. He got a 4-F from a MEPS during his WWII interview for saying that the number of times the United States kicked his ass might just lead to unintentional friendly fire. And you thought Arlo Guthrie's draft story was entertaining.

But more importantly, he wasn't content to let Bop be a secret, exclusive thing. He'd play anywhere with anyone and teach everyone what he was doing. He wanted people to hear it and join the adventure. So here we are with our tasty beverages, enjoying this 1962 homage to the man who kicked Jazz in the pants so hard it landed smack dab in the middle of modernity.  If anything deserves it, it's certainly this. Cheers.

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