grad beim Billboard lesen entdeckt, fand es als frühe Reaktion auf den Bebop ganz interessant, eine Rezension von Dizzy Gillespie am 8 September 1948 im Billy Berg’s in Los Angeles. Arrangements von u.a. Ted Dameron, Jimmy Mundy und Gerald Wilson, in der Band viele Forumsfavoriten wie Dave Burns und Cecil Payne, Roadmanager Richard Carpenter (s. Chet Baker Sternethread)… der Text ist von einem Lee Zhito
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Gillespie’s brand of music making is nothing but the same old stuff cleverly wrapped in a crazy-quilt of showbiz-wise antics designed to give it a new look. For example customers love a character – a role probably portrayed by Gillespie with his tuft of whiskers, his horn-rimed spectacles, the beret and zany bandstand mannerisms. Controversy atracts attention, hence the flack created disputes over the merits of this new school of jazz thought which has been fanned by press agentry into further flame to an extent where bopism is almost in the cult class.Actually, this jazz style is not as mysterious and mystical as its drum beaters would have us believe, nor is it quite as foreign from conventional jazz as claimed by its converts. It’s different only in that its purpose seems to be to create as uninhibited and unorthodox a product the human ear can tolerate. Melody as such is totally eliminated from the scheme of things with full emphasis falling to awkward (and at times, painful) harmonic combinations, soloists favoring unconventional intervals in jumping from one note to the next which is worked against a background of untamed rhythmic torrents. Score and playing manner lean almost exclusively to staccato style similar to trumpet be-bops from whence this music got its name. Bop-styled riffs are almost exclusively are almost entirely used as the thematic basis. This tends to create a restless, nervous emotional undertow. Again shooting at the listener’s basic emotions, Gillespie likes to wind up a selection with a four-bar-cadence devoted to mercilessly punching away at a highly dissonant chord that brings his audience to seat’s edge until he finally resolves onto it’s natural end (or tonic) chord. This device is particularly effective.
It takes more than a beret and a beard to make a band, and Gillespie has more to offer than just the zany trimmings. From a musicianly stand-point, his aggregation is one of the best disciplined in the biz today. Cut-offs are razor sharp, attacks pack a powerhouse punch, and the ensemble riding is as clean and true as one would want. This coupled with Gillespie’s terrific trumpet playing destines the aggregation to become the next big Negro band to sweep the country. […, bzw für katharsis: More than honorable mention belongs to vocalist Johnny Hartman, whose smooth and effortless song-style makes his ballas selections (injected between ork’s frenzied offering) as ear worthy as his sugar-coated pipes.]
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