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Beatstreet

Dizzy Gillespie Jam

Montreux '77

Original Jazz Classics/ Universal; CD; Rs. 295

Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) and Jon Faddis (born 1953), set very much in the Gillespie mould and at the time a guest artiste in his band, were ready with their trumpets to play their concert at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. But because of an airline goof-up that sent Gillespie's rhythm section (pianist, bassist, and drummer) to the Netherlands, that concert turned into an unplanned jam session. The resourceful producer Norman Granz assembled Monty Alexander on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Jimmie Smith on drums, with, as a bonus, Milt Jackson on vibraphone to fill the gap.

The resulting 40-odd minute recording has only four tracks, one of which is a medley of three ballads lasting about 13 minutes.

Gillespie, Jackson and Faddis are the soloists on the three tunes that make up the medley, the last being long enough to accommodate a passage that has Alexander and Jackson also improvising behind Faddis. Although the medley is slow, there's plenty of double-timing by Gillespie and Faddis during their improvisations to speed up the action. The medium-paced opening track, "Girl of My Dreams", also 13-minutes long, has enough room for almost all the musicians to pitch in with solo improvisations.

Gillespie (on the left) leads on the slow intro and the theme, following which Faddis (on the right) takes the first solo. Next is a series of exchanges between Gillespie, Faddis, Jackson and Alexander on the one hand and Smith on the other.

The other two tracks, "Get Happy" and "The Champ", are taken at a fast clip and give Gillespie and Faddis ample opportunity to come up with blindingly fast solos. They also have a series of solo exchanges among the two trumpets, piano and vibraphone. All the while Gillespie is a shade faster and more intricate than Faddis on his solos, and the music, a bit disappointingly, has no straight duel between just the two trumpeters.

That leaves room for a suspicion that Faddis, who is widely reputed as the only match for Gillespie ever born, was being a trifle respectful of the leader and not letting himself go. But otherwise, with the rhythm section giving of their best, this is one hell of a jam session.

Original Jazz Classics/Universal; CD; Rs. 295

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (1931-1979) was one of the leading alto saxophonists of the modern jazz era (be-bop and after) and, with his brother Nat, whose biting tone on cornet matched Cannonball's on alto, pioneered what was called soul jazz, an outgrowth of hard bop influenced by R&B. In this album culled from performances in Europe in 1960 but unreleased for a quarter of a century, they are ably supported by Victor Feldman on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums.

The album's title is apt not only because it serves as an introduction to a foot-tapping genre of jazz, but also as a play on the name of one of the tracks, the famous Cole Porter composition "What Is This Thing Called Love?". Indeed, Cannonball's witty introductions, which punctuate the music, include deliberately announcing this tune, beloved of jazz musicians as a vehicle for their improvisations, as "What Is This Thing Called Soul?"

This fast-paced number bids fair to be the pick of the album. After he and Nat render the theme, Cannonball works off into a terrific solo and Hayes is brilliant in support. Then Nat and Feldman take their turns to solo before some rousing exchanges between Cannonball and Hayes.

But in truth all the tracks are a delight. Big "P", also fast, has a great solo intro by Jones and satisfying solos by the two Adderleys.

"The Chant", also fast, has some good double timing by Nat, and its theme features exchanges between the Adderley duo and Jones. And so on... It would be invidious to single out any track as the best.

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