Dizzy Reece - Soundin' Off
Released - August 1960
Recording and Session Information
Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, May 12, 1960
Dizzy Reece, trumpet; Walter Bishop Jr., piano; Doug Watkins, bass; Art Taylor, drums.
tk.6 Yesterdays
tk.7 Our Love Is Here To Stay
tk.9 Once In A While
tk.10 A Ghost Of A Chance
tk.15 Blue Streak
tk.16 Eb Pob
Session Photos
Photos: Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images /
Track Listing
| Side One | ||
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| A Ghost of a Chance | Bing Crosby, Ned Washington, Victor Young | 12/05/1960 |
| Once in a While | Michael Edwards, Bud Green | 12/05/1960 |
| Eb Pob | Dizzy Reece | 12/05/1960 |
| Side Two | ||
| Yesterdays | Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern | 12/05/1960 |
| Our Love Is Here to Stay | George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin | 12/05/1960 |
| Blue Streak | Dizzy Reece | 12/05/1960 |
Liner Notes
DIZZY REECE has been in New York since October 1959. when he emigrated from Great Britain. At that time, he entered the tough competition for recognition that exists in New York's jazz world. True, he has had the support of Blue Note's Alfred Lion, who has recorded him, but other than that he has been in the position of any other newcomer trying to prove himself in New York.
Jobs have been sporadic but this has not discouraged Dizzy. He has patience which is bulwarked, I suspect, by a quiet but strong self-confidence that is evident even if Dizzy does not brandish it. Then, too, he feels the New York scene is stimulating. "One thing, here you can always get a good rhythm section", says Dizzy. "In Europe there are good individuals but the units are not good. Here the rhythm sections are more musically integrated."
The first jazz that attracted Dizzy in his native Jamaica was through the records of Basie band soloists Buck Clayton and Don Byas. When he later heard Gillespie and Monk, "it didn't disturb me. I thought it was a natural trend. I didn't try to analyze it. The vibrations I got were relative to my own feelings."
Incidentally, Dizzy did not get nickname because of anything connected the illustrious Gillespie. It seems that Reece was a bit of a prankster as a teenager (a certain glint in his eyes hints that he hasn't lost all his insouciance) and, as a result a friend dubbed him Dizzy.
Although his direct musical lineage comes down from Gillespie, Navarro and Clifford Brown, Dizzy Reece is an individual. "I can only say the things I live", is his credo. When Dizzy uses the word "say" in regard to his trumpet playing, it is extremely appropriate because he does talk through his horn. He is further proof that certain instruments are a continuation of the human voice. "The saxophone gets the fluidity. It's harder to do on the trumpet - the circle...", he says, referring to a continuous flow of sound, running back into itself, that saxophonists can achieve.
"The only thing that is bugging me is the mastery of the horn and you never really get that up to grave." I might add that this is a relative mastery because Reece is so conversant with his trumpet that he is able to evoke sounds which are not found in any exercise books. Sometimes he gets a bubbling, gargling sound that seems to emanate from underwater. It bean no relation to Shep fields. This and and other "vocal" effects make Dizzy's style very personal.
Dizzy states, philosophically, "Sometimes you speak fluently, sometimes you don't. But every effort must be conscious. I can sit bock and play the same things I played before and be asleep. But I don't think that way."
British critic Michael James, in reviewing Dizzy's Blues In Trinity LP 4006 wrote, "Reece is the opposite of the performer who aims only for effects he is certain of attaining ... his fondness for wide intervals and the grasp of dynamics gives his lines true dramatic strength."
Dizzy is not content to run changes. The "conscious effort" he speaks of is the father of an emotional style that has its effect on the listener in a cumulative manner. The more listen, more his power of communication is felt. It is not that he is a complicated player; he is not an obvious one.
There are places where Reece appears to be hitting wrong notes. This was my reaction when I first listened to the album. Then I thought, "An intelligent, conscientious musician wouldn't let mistakes like this pass. Could he be playing these notes on purpose?" When I asked him, he bore out my second contention.
"I'm working on quarter tones and eighth tones between the notes. I can see the relativity between Eastern music and jazz." was Dizzy" comment. "Jamaica is a cosmopolitan island with a large East Indian population. I heard their music as a child. All civilizations take different approaches but all bear relation to each other. Then, also, I heard Indian musicians, Ravi Shankar and Chatur Lal, in London and was impressed by them."
With him is here one of the well-integrated rhythm rhythm sections alluded to earlier. Walter Bishop, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor were with Dizzy at the Village Vanguard in May of 1960 and this album reflects the time they spent playing together. The tunes in this set are typical of what the group was doing in the club. Dizzy explains. "We wanted to record them there but time didn't permit. This was the next best thing."
Blue Note's studio recordings never seem to suffer from the lack of a large audience. Without this stimulus, they are, nevertheless, very "alive".
From the extended opening note which implies a whole phrase, Dizzy delivers a deep, thoughtful rendition of Ghost Of A Chance. His fat sound puts one in mind of Freddie Webster at times.
Walter Bishop, who has a tender solo on Ghost Of A Chance, begins Once In A While in an out of tempo introduction in the same mood. Then Dizzy comes in, carrying the melody as the rhythm section goes into a medium bounce tempo with Art Taylor supplying a strong push. Doug Watkins' big sound is evident behind Bishop's solo. Walter begins and ends his increasingly personal interpretation of the Bud Powell idiom. In the middle segment of his solo, he uses a light, chordal approach. Back in the '40s, he was the first of the "bop" pianists to use this variation.
Eb Pab, an "I got rhythm" opus by Fats Navarro and Leo Parker, is a tune that Dizzy has played since he heard Fats' original record. Perhaps the longevity of the association explains the liberties he takes with the melody. This is one of the instances where Dizzy's new notes made me wonder at first. Here he shows an authority in handling his instrument and a confident abandon in the way he leaps and soars from one idea to the next. Bishop is intelligently hard-driving on this medium-up swinger.
It is effective the way tracks 2 and 3 on side 1 each show an increase in tempo from its predecessor. This pacing adds to listener interest. Side 2 adheres to this too, although the graduations between tracks 1 end 2 are less pronounced than on side 1.
Bishop's introduction to Yesterdays is an excerpt from Bud Powell's bridge to Bouncin' With Bud. Dizzy enters with an extremely human-voiced melody statement. His improvisation is in the same vein and perhaps the high point of the set. Bishop begins with a right hand attack and then dips into a funky chord bag, well done but not overdone, before returning the single line. (A lot of people are going to start taking notice of Bish.) Reece, with the excellent rhythm section functioning flawlessly behind him, returns to take it out.
The rhythm swings Our Love Is Here To Stay lightly but very firmly as Dizzy waxes lyrical. Bishop demonstrates how pervasive Red Garland's influence has been in part of his solo and Doug Watkins takes a neatly plucked one before Reece re-enters with the melody.
Blue Streak is a blues, recently written by Reece. Dizzy digs in from the outset and hotly in a series of building choruses in which the rhythmic variety of his phrasing plays an important part. Bish generates some wonderful stretches of straight—ahead swing in his solo.
In talking more of the New York scene, Dizzy commented on some of the people who has impressed him, in addition to the men in his group. He named, among others, tenor men Stan Turrentine and Walter Benton, pianist Tommy Flanagan and trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Booker Little.
When asked him what differences he found between New York and London besides the rhythm sections, he said. "There's a more definite approach - it's more real here."
Dizzy Reece is real too. He claims, "I don't want to be a star. I just want to contribute my part to the scene."
I think contributions will put him into some part of galaxy, whether he wants to go or not.
- IRA GITLER
Cover Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design by REID MILES
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER
No comments:
Post a Comment