Happy Birthday Dizzy!

With Dizzy Gillespie being one of my all-time favorite jazz artists, and today being his birthday(Thanks to Google for the reminder), I thought I would pay tribute to the jazz legend by featuring another one of my favorite tracks by Gillespie in "N'Bani". This funky track was featured on Gillespie's 1970 album The Real Thing. As I've probably mentioned before on this site (see Funky Manteca), Gillespie was one of the first jazz artists I grew to enjoy and really appreciate. His music was the start of me opening up to jazz music in general and it has since played a major influence on me musically. With that being said, he would have been 94 years old today and even though he is not with us physically anymore, his music is still very much alive and breathing in many of us. So here is to you Dizzy, Happy Birthday!

Dizzy Gillespie - N'Bani



And as a bonus...

Dizzy Gillespie - Manteca

Happy Birthday Dizzy!

With Dizzy Gillespie being one of my all-time favorite jazz artists, and today being his birthday(Thanks to Google for the reminder), I thought I would pay tribute to the jazz legend by featuring another one of my favorite tracks by Gillespie in "N'Bani". This funky track was featured on Gillespie's 1970 album The Real Thing. I was excited to find an original copy of this record, which I rarely see, this past weekend. As I've probably mentioned before on this site (see Funky Manteca), Gelespie was one of the first jazz artists I grew to enjoy and really appreciate. His music was the start of me opening up to jazz music in general and it has since played a major influence on me musically. With that being said, he would have been 93 years old today and even though he is not with us physically anymore, his music is still very much alive and breathing in many of us. So here is to you Dizzy, Happy Birthday!

Dizzy Gillespie - N'Bani

Funky Manteca

I'm going to post something a little different today in sharing one of my all-time favorite Afro-Cuban jazz songs in Dizzy Gillespie's thirteen minute extended version of "Manteca". One of the reasons I'm posting this track is because I can almost single handily credit this funky jazz gem for opening up me to the world of jazz. From the song's Fela Kuti-like horn intro to the funky Latin percussion breaks, I fell in love with this track from the first time I heard it. Some might consider this track as Dizzy's greatest work and a turning point in his prolific career as he branched out from bebop to Afro-Cuban jazz. As with many jazz songs, their have been many different versions of "Manteca" that have appeared on various albums and with array of different lineups, however this is the version that appears on the 1973 album titled The Source. Since being turned on to this funky jazz classic, I've seeked out more Afro-Cuban music and have come across many other great artists from that genre that I had once not heard about including Machito, Manteca, The Har-You Percussion Group, Kenny Dorham and many more. Even though this track is not the sort of song that typically get's featured on this site, it has been one that has helped re-shape my music tastes in quite an impacting way. For those who have yet heard this song, hopefully it will a similiar impact as it did on me. Enjoy!

Dizzy Gillespie - Manteca