Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Blue Rhythm Fantasy - Teddy Hill & His Orchestra
2. Hot Mallets - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
3. Pickin' the Cabbage - Cab Calloway & His Orchestra
4. Bye Bye Blues - Cab Calloway & His Orchestra
5. Once in a Lovetime
6. Stardust - Kenny Clarke, Nick Fenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Ken Kersey
7. Little John Special - Lucky Millinder
8. Woody 'N' You - Coleman Hawkins & His Orchestra
9. Disorder at the Border - Coleman Hawkins & His Orchestra
10. I Stay in the Mood for You - Billy Eckstine, Billy Eckstine
11. I Can't Get Started - Dizzy Gillespie All Stars
12. Good Bait - Dizzy Gillespie All Stars
13. Bebop - Dizzy Gillespie All Stars
14. Perdido - Joe Marsala
15. Cherokee - Joe Marsala
16. Night in Tunisia - Boyd Raeburn
17. Groovin' High - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
18. Blue 'N' Boogie - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
19. Groovin' High - Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Clyde Hart, Remo Palmieri, Charlie Parker, Slam Stewart
20. All the Things You Are - Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Clyde Hart, Remo Palmieri, Charlie Parker, Slam Stewart
21. Dizzy Atmosphere - Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Clyde Hart, Remo Palmieri, Charlie Parker, Slam Stewart
22. Salt Peanuts - Dizzy Gillespie
23. Shaw 'Nuff - Dizzy Gillespie
24. Hot House - Dizzy Gillespie
25. Get Happy - Red Norvo & His Selected Sextet,
26. Congo Blues - Red Norvo & His Selected Sextet,

Disc 2:

1. Ten Lessons with Timothy - Tony Scott
2. Slim's Jam - Slim Gaillard
3. Dizzy Atmosphere - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
4. Diggin' Diz - Dizzy Gillespie
5. Confirmation - Dizzy Gillespie
6. Diggin' for Diz - Dizzy Gillespie
7. Dynamo A - Dizzy Gillespie
8. When I Grow Too Old to Dream - Dizzy Gillespie
9. 'Round About Midnight - Dizzy Gillespie
10. Way You Look Tonight - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards Orchestra
11. Why Do I Love You? - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards Orchestra
12. Who - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards Orchestra
13. All the Things You Are - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards Orchestra
14. 52nd Street Theme - Dizzy Gillespie
15. Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie
16. Ol' Man Rebop - Dizzy Gillespie
17. Anthropology - Dizzy Gillespie
18. One Bass Hit, Pt. 1 - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
19. Oop Bop Sh'bam - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
20. That's Earl, Brother - Dizzy Gillespie Sextet
21. Our Delight - Dizzy Gillespie
22. Good Dues Blues - Dizzy Gillespie
23. Ray's Idea - Dizzy Gillespie
24. Things to Come - Dizzy Gillespie
25. For Hecklers Only - Be Bop Boys
26. Smokey Hollow Jump - Be Bop Boys
27. Boppin' the Blues - Be Bop Boys

Disc 3:

1. Moody Speaks - Be Bop Boys
2. Emanon - Dizzy Gillespie
3. Ow! - Dizzy Gillespie
4. Oop-Pop-A-Da - Dizzy Gillespie
5. Two Bass Hit - Dizzy Gillespie
6. Stay on It - Dizzy Gillespie
7. Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie, , John Lewis, Al McKibbon, Charlie Parker
8. Dizzy Atmosphere - Dizzy Gillespie, , John Lewis, Al McKibbon, Charlie Parker
9. Groovin' High - Dizzy Gillespie, , John Lewis, Al McKibbon, Charlie Parker
10. Confirmation - Dizzy Gillespie, Barry Harris, John Lewis, Al McKibbon, Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker
11. Koko - Dizzy Gillespie, , John Lewis, Al McKibbon, Charlie Parker
12. Leap Here - The Metronome All-Stars
13. Algo Bueno (Woody 'N' You) - Dizzy Gillespie
14. Cool Breeze - Dizzy Gillespie
15. Cubana Be - Dizzy Gillespie
16. Cubana Bop - Dizzy Gillespie
17. Manteca - Dizzy Gillespie
18. Good Bait - Dizzy Gillespie
19. Ool-Ya-Koo - Dizzy Gillespie
20. Minor Walk - Dizzy Gillespie
21. Guarachi Guaro - Dizzy Gillespie
22. Duff Capers - Dizzy Gillespie

Disc 4:

1. Lover, Come Back to Me - Dizzy Gillespie
2. I'm Be Boppin' Too - Dizzy Gillespie
3. Swedish Suite - Dizzy Gillespie
4. St. Louis Blues - Dizzy Gillespie
5. Katy (Dizzier and Dizzier) - Dizzy Gillespie
6. Jump Di-Le-Ba - Dizzy Gillespie
7. Hey Pete! Let's Eat Mo' Meat - Dizzy Gillespie
8. Jumpin' with Symphony Sid - Dizzy Gillespie
9. In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee - Dizzy Gillespie
10. Say When - Dizzy Gillespie
11. You Stole My Wife, You Horsethief - Dizzy Gillespie
12. Coast to Coast - Dizzy Gillespie
13. Oo-La-La - Dizzy Gillespie
14. Bloomdido - Charlie Parker & his Orchestra
15. Oscar for Treadwell - Charlie Parker & his Orchestra
16. Mohawk - Charlie Parker & his Orchestra
17. My Melancholy Baby - Charlie Parker & his Orchestra
18. Leap Frog - Charlie Parker & his Orchestra
19. Relaxin' with Lee - Charlie Parker & his Orchestra
20. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards
21. Lullaby of the Leaves - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards
22. What Is There to Say? - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards Orchestra
23. Alone Together - Dizzy Gillespie, , Johnny Richards Orchestra
24. On the Alamo - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards
25. Interlude in C - Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Richards

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #205066 in Music
• Released on: 2001-11-05
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Import
• Dimensions: .50 pounds

Album Description
UK box-set for the greatest bebop trumpeter ever. 99 tracks over 4 CD's from his early years with the bands of Teddy Hill, Lionel Hampton & Cab Calloway to the exciting trumpet virtuoso performances of the mid to late 1940's. 48 page booklet tells the story of this great musician & showman, includes session details & rare photos. 2001.

Customer Reviews

5 stars for content, no stars for sound quality
A friend told me the latest edition of the Penguin Guide to Jazz gave this a crown recommendation, so I decided to check it out. I couldn't argue with the track selection, which does a great job covering all the highlights of Gillespie's peak years, however I was VERY disappointed by the sound quality.

In the past, Penguin has recommended some marvelous budget, import jazz collections with fantastic sound quality, but unlike the JSP CD's of Louis Armstrong or Jelly Roll Morton, or the Hep CD's of Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Teddy Wilson, this box set from Proper is the pits. They have been poorly transferred, and poor sources may have been involved. You'll notice some tracks overlap with the Complete RCA Victor Recordings and the recent Savoy/WEA reissues; the same tracks on those CD's sound FAR, FAR better (I always thought the RCA Victor set used too much noise reduction, but it still sounds FAR better than this box set).

Very, very disappointing, someone should get the clearance necessary to compile a domestic box set with the same track listing, and then get John R. T. Davies, Ted Kendall, or Steve Hoffman to master all this properly from top notch sources. Until then, if you have the money, I think you're much better off getting the Complete RCA Victor Recordings and the Odyssey set from Savoy/WEA (if money's an issue, get the Complete RCA Victor Recordings instead for now).

[edit: Subsequent reviewers said they heard no difference, and one said I probably didn't know what to expect from 78 rpm recordings. I OWN 1,058 different 78 rpm records, half of which predate WWII, and have personally transferred a large number of recordings to DAT and CD-R for archival use - i.e. I KNOW what to expect. If you can't hear the heavy processing and noise reduction that sucks the life out of these recordings, feel free to buy this as the track selection is good. As for the packaging and liner notes, they're not spectacular. The photo reproductions aren't great, and while the liner notes are comprehensive, they don't provide any great insight or analysis.]

Exhaustive, detailed treatment of early Dizzy
Most of us that love and follow the origins of modern jazz seem to know all about the early recordings of Charlie Parker, for instance, the Jay McShann recordings, the Redcross acetates, the Tiny Grimes session, and finally the Bird/Diz output of 1945 for Guild and the Comet session with Red Norvo.

This CD box covers the early years of bebop via the recordings of Dizzy Gillespie. It includes all important sessions leading up to the Bird/Diz recordings (Teddy Hill, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins), and after the split with Bird, covers his output with his big band and small groups up to 1950.

Some very rare recordings are included, such as his 1st recording of Groovin' High, with Dexter Gordon, and a session with strings of Jerome Kern's compositions, that was pulled because the estate of Kern objected to Dizzy's liberties.

I have never seen so complete a box set dealing with Dizzy Gillespie's early work. The liner notes are quite complete as well.

Highly recommended!

Bebop Brilliance
The breadth of Dizzy's work covered in this box set is staggering. You could easily spend 4 times the amount of money gathering these sessions together. I am a big fan of Charlie Parker, and I especially love the music in which Bird and Diz played together. I have to admit though, that while Charlier Parker contributed the phrasing and the genius that launched bebop, it was Dizzy that provided the leadership and the mentoring that kept it moving forward. The recognition of Dizzy's contributions seems to be sorely lacking, then and even now.

This box set captures Dizzy's efforts during this most crucial period that shaped what modern jazz sounds like today. It covers his early work with Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstine, and Coleman Hawkins, and the early small group work with Bird leading up to their trip to California. It includes Dizzy's bebop big band after returning to New York, as well as his earliest Afro-Cuban recordings with Chano Pozo.

If this wasn't enough, the box set includes Bird and Diz's 1947 Carnegie Hall concert, and the famous Bird/Diz/Monk recordings from 1950, when Norman Granz got exactly what he didn't want, and we bebop fans got exactly what we did want (thank you Mr. Granz).

Dizzy's energy, power, and enthusiasm never diminish throughout these selections, and the bands, small and large, swing with incredible precision. It is so good to hear his fluttering trumpet lines soaring over the lush big band background and settling back to earth.

Finally a word about the sound quality- An early review of this box set decried the sound quality, and frankly that is what kept me from purchasing it for a long time. Having nearly worn out the CDs now, I think the sound quality is just fine. I have duplicates of many of the songs in this set, including the early small group bebop sessions and the master takes of the Bird/Diz/Monk set, and I can tell you that the sound quality is as good or better in this set than in the duplicates.