Dizzy Gillespie: Salt Peanuts

Read About This Recording

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time and one of the founders of two different styles of jazz. Born in 1917, Dizzy originally sounded a lot like his idol trumpeter Roy Eldridge, particularly during his recording debut with Teddy Hill's big band in 1937. Over the next seven years, Gillespie developed his own radical style while being a sideman in a long series of big bands, most notably that of Cab Calloway (1939-41). While Calloway and others thought that Dizzy was hitting wrong notes, he was actually playing solos that were so modern that he sounded a decade ahead of the rhythm section.

By 1944, Dizzy Gillespie's style was together and he began to become a major force, along with Charlie Parker, in bebop. His classic recordings with Parker in 1945 and with his big band during 1946-49 solidified his place in jazz history. In addition, his work with blending jazz with Latin music, inspired by the conga playing of Chano Pozo, resulted in Afro-Cuban jazz. Gillespie's eagerness to teach the younger generation of jazz musicians how to play bop was a major factor in bebop becoming the modern mainstream and foundation of jazz.

The ten-CD imported set Salt Peanuts mostly dates from 1939-53. The 134 performances, which are not in chronological order, have many of the highlights of Dizzy Gillespie's recordings of both the Swing and Bebop Eras including both influential gems and obscurities with Calloway. Throughout, Dizzy always sounds original and looking ahead as he changes the future of jazz.

—Scott Yanow

Contents

Imported from Europe!

CD 1 (TT: 46:11): Blowing the Blues Away; Hallelujah; Mohawk; Victory Ball; We Go Well Together; You Are the One in My Heart; Dynamo B; Emanon; Fifteen Minutes Intermission; Goin' Conga; They Can't Take That Away From Me; Too Much Weight; When I Grow Too Old to Dream; Make Yourself At Home; Nice Work If You Can Get It.

CD 2 (TT: 45:37): Salt Peanuts; Sometimes I'm Happy; The Workers' Train; Relaxin' With Lee; Special Delivery; St. James Infirmary; Bloomdido; Blue 'n' Boogie; Blues in the Night; Good Bait; That's Earl, Brother; The Bluest Blues; Yesterday; My Melancholy Baby.

CD 3 (TT: 48:41): Early Session Hop; Embraceable You; Good Mail; Moon Nocturne; Ooh-Shoo-Be-Doo; Overtime; Ain't Misbehavin'; Algo Bueno (Woody 'n' You); Are You All Reet; Dizzy Atmosphere; Our Delight; Says Who? Says You, Says; Stardust; Wamba.

CD 4 (TT: 48:12): One Sweet Letter From You; Perdido; Ray's Idea; Cool Breeze; Geechy Joe; Hey, Doc; Hot House; I Want to Talk About You; My Gal; One Bass Hit (Part 1); Oop-Pop-A-Da; Sure Thing; Time On My Hands.

CD 5 (TT: 46:05): Hot Air; It Don't Mean a Thing; Just Blues (One More Blues); 'Round About Midnight; 52nd Street Theme; Bass-ically Speaking; I'm Beboppin' Too; Leap Frog; Let a Song Go Out of You; Cubana Bob; Dizzy Boogie; Ghost of a Chance; Stay On It.

CD 6 (TT: 47:32): A Night in Tunisia; Blue and Sentimental; Caravan; Cubana Be; Duff Capers; Ebony Silhouette; Run Little Rabbit; Salt Peanuts; Good Jelly Blues; Hep Cat's Love Song; I've Got a Date With Rhythm; Ol' Man Rebop; She's Gone Again.

CD 7 (TT: 45:15): All the Things You Are; Caribe; Cognac Blues; 'Round About Midnight; An Oscar for Treadwell; Anthropology; Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac; Take the A Train; The Champ; Lonesome Nights; Manteca; Night in Tunisia; On the Sunny Side of the Street.

CD 8 (TT: 46:40): Anthropology; Cherokee; Conchita; A Chicken Ain't Nothin' but a Bird; Birk's Works; Buh De Daht; Sweet Georgia Brown (Parts 1 & 2); The Real Thing Happened to Me; Sabla y Blu; Smokey Hollow Jump; Thinking of You; Rainbow Mist; Shaw' Nuff.

CD 9 (TT: 50:35): It's the Talk of the Town; Lullaby of Birdland; Minor Walk; Hot House; If That's the Way You Feel; Jubilee; Tour de Force; Jonah Joins the Cab; Just One More Chance; Lover Come Back to Me; I Stay in the Mood for You; Tin Tin Deo; Two Bass Hit.

CD 10 (TT: 47:16): All the Things You Are; Chattanooga Choo Choo; Cocktails for Two; Mrs. Finnigan; North of the Mohawk Trail; Ool Ya Koo; Wee; Willow Weep for Me; Oop Bop Sh'Bam; Ow; 'Round About Midnight; I Can't Get Started; I See a Million People (But All I Can See Is You).