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Recorded in 1954, Dizzy Gillespie's Afro was the great trumpeter's first big band record for five years. That alone would have made it both welcome and important, but it also gave him the opportunity to explore in extended form his abiding interest in exotic rhythms. In truth, the title is misleadingly incomplete: the ethos here is much less African than Afro-Cuban: amongst his greatest 40s recordings had been his collaboration with Chano Pozo on George Russell's "Cubano Be--Cubano Bop", and now Chico O'Farrill's "Manteca Suite" took things a decisive step forward. O'Farrill's writing may have been less innov
Recorded in 1954, Dizzy Gillespie's Afro was the great trumpeter's first big band record for five years. That alone would have made it both welcome and important, but it also gave him the opportunity to explore in extended form his abiding interest in exotic rhythms. In truth, the title is misleadingly incomplete: the ethos here is much less African than Afro-Cuban: amongst his greatest 40s recordings had been his collaboration with Chano Pozo on George Russell's "Cubano Be--Cubano Bop", and now Chico O'Farrill's "Manteca Suite" took things a decisive step forward. O'Farrill's writing may have been less innovative than Russell's, but it is masterly nonetheless, its four movements distinguished for emotional range as well as idiomatic authenticity. The all-star band (including Quincy Jones, JJ Johnson and tenorists Hank Mobley and Lucky Thompson) clearly relish these charts, and Gillespie's own work finds him back to his best after a rather muted period in the early 50s. The other three cuts, "Night In Tunisia", Caravan" and "Con Alma", feature "Dizzy Gillespie and his Latin American Rhythm" recorded a month later, and if they are less absorbing than the "Suite", the leader plays quite beautifully and there is plenty to stimulate foot and brain. Gillespie would go on to even greater big band heights with his State Department outfit a couple of years hence, but Afro is still a compulsory purchase for all serious modernists, not least because it has been out of the catalogue for 40 years. --Richard Palmer
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Manufacturer: Universal Classics
Release date: 3 June 2002
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0731451705229 UPC: 731451705229
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