~by Dena Burroughs

TRIBUTE TO DIZZY GILLESPIE BY THE LUCKMAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA

     No one could miss Dizzy Gillespie.  His cheeks inflated impressively when he blew into his trumpet.  His trumpet was bent upwards, in an odd shape that happened first as an accident and then was kept permanently twisted, because Dizzy found its sound interesting.  He was comical, hyperactive, a true performer, and a musical virtuoso.

     By birth he was John Birks Gillespie, but someone named him “Dizzy” around his eighteenth birthday.  Today, that nickname stands for a legacy of musical innovation and originality.  The influence he had in the development of bebop and in the foundation of Afro-Cuban jazz is undeniable.  The musical masterpieces he produced are admired even now, sixty years later, and his style as a trumpeter has been studied by every horn player after him.  

     As a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie, the Luckman Jazz Orchestra offered a concert at the Luckman Theater last Saturday and performed some of Dizzy’s finest creations, under the direction of conductor Charles Owens.

     The 21 piece orchestra shined with selections like Kush, as composed by Dizzy and arranged especially for this evening by local musician, and Dizzy’s friend and colleague, Mr. Garnett Brown, who was present at the concert.  Kush was a perfect example of how Dizzy incorporated the sounds of the congas, the timbales, and the drums into the classic sounds of jazz’s horns. 

     The now 60 year old arrangement by Dizzy Gillespie of Thelonious Monk’s song Round Midnight was a testimony to the longevity of both their crafts.  The performance of Brother K became especially powerful after learning that Dizzy wrote it for his spiritual brother, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

     Throughout the program, the audience delighted in the solos of the musicians who formed the Luckman Jazz Orchestra this evening.  It included big jazz names, like drummer Alphonse Mouzon, saxophonist Fred Jackson Jr., and pianist Lanny Hartley, as well as an outstanding 27 year old saxophonist, Kamasi Washington, a former UCLA student of conductor Charles Owens, who had the audience on their feet more than once throughout the night. 

     Mr. Alvin Watkins, a jazz lover in attendance, expressed his satisfaction with the tribute by saying, “The Luckman Jazz Orchestra is what a real seasoned jazz orchestra is all about.  Dizzy Gillespie would have been honored.”

Garnett Brown, arranger, and Jimmy Allen, of the California Jazz Foundation

 
Saxophonist Kamasi Washington

Conductor Charles Owens

[Note: An edited version of this review will appear on the CSULA "University Times" newspaper]