1. Oon-ga-wa
2. Loose Change
3. Whasidishean
4. Round Midnight
5. Love for Sale
6. Terrestris
Dizzy Gillespie - Trumpet
Phil Woods - Alto sax
Tom Harrell - Trumpet, flugelhorn
Hal Galper - Piano
Steve Gilmore - Bass
Bill Goodwin - Drums
Dizzy Gillespie and Phil Woods go back a long way. Phil worked with
Dizzy's big band on tour in the mid-1950s, and it seems natural for
someone like Woods - a disciple of Charlie Parker - to play with Gillespie,
who was Parker's closest associate from the bebop years. They certainly
sound at ease in one another's company.
This is a reissue of a 1986 session recorded in Holland by Dizzy
with Phil's quintet, when the latter was on a European tour. One problem
with the session is that it included two trumpeters who are sometimes
difficult to tell apart (and the sleeve-note is no help). Nonetheless,
you may feel you can recognise Gillespie's sound, which had mellowed
considerably since his big-band days. Perhaps Dizzy couldn't any longer
manage those stratospheric solos that he once played, but in a way
it's a relief to hear him in gentler mood. And the two trumpeters
work amicably together on such tracks as Dizzy's composition Whasidishean,
where Gillespie and Tom Harrell provide rich harmonic backing
for Phil Woods' soaring solo.
In fact Woods may be regarded as the star of this recording, although
Dizzy comes into his own on Round Midnight, where his tender,
eloquent muted trumpet follows solos from Phil's alto sax and Tom's
flugelhorn. Phil Woods had assimilated Charlie Parker's innovations
and moved on from them - just as Cannonball Adderley did. Woods takes
the lion's share of the solos on this CD and displays not only his
faultless technique but his ability to mould solos which both speak
and swing.
The opening Oon-ga-wa is another Gillespie invention, with
a floating Latin beat which buoys up the solos from Dizzy, Phil and
Tom. Pianist Hal Galper wrote Loose Change, which is a lively
beboppish number. There is a good piano solo from Hal on Love for
Sale, which also features the two trumpeters in unaccompanied
rapture, which hots up further when the rhythm section joins in, with
Bill Goodwin's drums kicking things along superbly.
The album ends as it began - with a Latin-American flavour - from
Tom Harrell's Terrestris. Phil Woods' serpentine solo
is followed by a typically saucy outing from Dizzy. With only about
50 minutes of music, this album is hardly an essential buy but it
nevertheless makes very pleasing listening.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Timeless CD SJP 250
