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This is a re-release of the Jazzhaus bestseller 101711, recorded live in 1961 in Stuttgart and Frankfurt. Gillespie wanted to act fully as a human being, fighting against drug abuse, educational problems and segregation. It makes sense to bear this philanthropic stance in mind when listening to his music. Gillespie’s melodies were supple in an engaging way, his tone had about it something radiantly numinous, extending beyond the capacities of the mere instrument. And at his improvisational, often breathtakingly virtuoso best, he managed to inspire players and audiences alike to feel themselves part of an extraordinary moment. One noticed this at the Stuttgart Liederhalle when he came there in November 1961, and one can still feel it today even at this distance in time.

REVIEW:

This is absolutely marvelous music. Duke Ellington’s The Mooche is an excellent song to introduce these concerts, since it gives each of musicians a chance to shine, and together to show off their tight ensemble. There’s transcendent cool from Leo Wright’s flute in Willow Weep for Me, ably supported by Schifrin, Cunningham and Lewis. Dizzy brings soul to a very fine version of Vernon Duke’s I Can’t Get Started*, occasionally making way for Wright’s alto sax, and allowing Schifrin to put down some really interesting piano chords along the way. Dizzy’s own composition Kush gets a hard-driving, percussion-heavy arrangement that sounds more than halfway to something from Dizzy’s Big Band. Kudos here to Mel Lewis, but of course so much of this comes from the energy and passion of Dizzy’s trumpet. Dizzy provides comic relief in his fun novelty number Oops-Shee-Be-Doo-Be.

It’s the two takes of Con Alma that impressed me the most, though. In his introduction to the version from the Frankfurt concert Dizzy makes a great joke: he says “the name of this tune is Con Alma, which means, In Spanish.”—beat—big laugh from the audience. It actually means, of course, With Soul, and there’s plenty of that here: soul and musicianship and passion.

-- Music for Several Instruments