Celebrating Dizzy Gillespie
JLCO Performances
•
1h 31m
Dizzy Gillespie was a visionary architect of bebop, a peerless trumpet virtuoso, and a gifted educator, dancer, and raconteur. Watch the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis dig deep into the musical world of Dizzy. As much a revolution as it was a movement, bebop ushered in the modern era of jazz and marked a decisive line between old and new. The high-speed acrobatics, harmonic sophistication, and technical authority of bebop have permeated all of jazz and continue to inform and challenge musicians of all levels.
Vincent Gardner (JLCO trombonist, composer, arranger, and this show's music director) leads the Orchestra in new and classic arrangements of Dizzy's music, showcasing the thrilling melodies, hard swing, and kinetic solos that define these works. Gardner also made a highly anticipated return as a JLCO composer in this performance, debuting a new work that highlighted the essential components of bebop while keeping true to its spirit by offering something fresh, distinct, and technically ambitious— all in celebration of Gillespie's centennial.
Up Next in JLCO Performances
-
McCoy Tyner and Charles McPherson
Pianist McCoy Tyner and saxophonist Charles McPherson, both 80 years old the night of this concert in 2019, were honored by the JLCO with Wynton Marsalis with a bevy of new arrangements featuring their compositions. McPherson, a singular bebop saxophonist, even joined the JLCO onstage for the per...
-
Voices of Freedom
Experience the essential works of some of the 20th century’s most powerful singers and songwriters, performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and vocalists Melanie Charles, Shenel Johns, and Ashley Pezzotti. Under the music direction of JLCO trombonist and vocalist Ch...
-
Lush Life: Celebrating Billy Strayhorn
Legend has it that Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) wrote the American songbook icon, “Lush Life,” at the tender age of 16. Though this early date has been disputed by some scholars, what isn’t in question is that Duke Ellington's first recordings of Strayhorn’s work were published when Strayhorn was ...
