In Verve’s Master Edition series you can get the masterful 1961-album An Electrifying Evening With the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet. Recorded at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, the four tracks are Kush (written by Gillespie), Salt Peanuts (Gillespie and Kenny Clarke), A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie and Frank Paparelli) and The Mooche (Duke Ellington).
Parker on Alto Sax, Gillespie on trumpet Here we have two of the three main originators of bebop, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Form is AABA and typical of bebop performance. There is an intro with angular unison and octave lines in saxophone and trumpet. The main melody is based on the chord changes to another standard.
That shining tonight in Tunisia They guide you through descent sand And words fail to tell a tale exoticto be taid Each night's a deeper night in a worldages old The cares of the world seem to vanish The ending of day brings release Each wonderful night in Tunisia Where the nights are filled with peace.
A longtime resident of Englewood, New Jersey Dizzy Gillespie died of pancreatic cancer on January 6, 1993, at the age of 75 and was buried in Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York City. Mike Longo delivered a eulogy at his funeral. Dizzy Gillespie is best remembered as one of the exponents of bebop, a modern form of jazz music.
The headline is typical of Dizzy Gillespie. It is the title of his autobiography, published in 1979. Dizzy Gillespie was a funny man, of great wit and with a strong sense of humour. Sadly, he died only four and a half months before the Polar Music Prize ceremony in 1993, on January 6, at the age of 75.