Dizzy Gillespie - The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever

Who is the greatest trumpet player of all time? Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie? As the leader of two of the finest big bands in jazz history, Gillespie differed from many of his generation by being a masterful showman who could also make his music seem both accessible and fun to the audience. With puffed-out cheeks, bent trumpet (which was the result of an accident in the early '50s when a dancer tripped over his horn), and quick wit, Dizzy was an amazing man to watch. He was also a comedian of sorts, a superb scat singer and occasionally played Latin percussion , but it was his trumpet playing and band leadership that made him into a jazz giant. Another point in Gillespie's favor is that like Davis, he transcended his era and made great records for four decades. As an inventor of bop, he made the seminal music of the genre, but he also went on to bring Afro-Cuban sounds and Latin percussion into jazz. Like many of the jazz greats there are more than 100 recordings of Diz you could choose from, The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever featuring Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Max Roach and Bud Powell is a good starting pace.