Dizzy Reece Blues In Trinity (Blue Note)

Blues In Trinity

Dizzy Reece, Donald Byrd, trumpet; Tubby Hayes, tenor sax;
Terry Shannon, piano; Lloyd Thompson, bass; Art Taylor, drums.

In the late summer of 1958, Donald Byrd and Art Taylor came to Europe for some jazz festivals and club dates with a band comprising Bobby Jaspar, Doug Watkins and pianist Walter Davis. Dizzy Reece was in Paris from Cannes where he'd been playing with the French big band Kenny Clarke had worked with.

These recordings were made while Byrd and A.T. were in Paris. Dizzy was there with the big band. The canadian bassist, Lloyd Thompson, was working at a club with Zoot Sims. The British musicians, tenorist Tubby Hayes and pianist Terry Shannon were on their annual vacation.

As I've been Dizzy's recording manager and friend for four years now, Alfred Lion sent me a test pressing of this LP so that I could write the liner. Dizzy hadn't heard the tapes since the session, so he came over to my pad to hear the tests. His reaction? "There's lots of music there. It sounds good. Better than a lot of records I've heard. A.T. sounds just great." Taking the tracks in the order on the album:

"Blues In Trinity" is a most striking Reece original. "These are the changes," says Dizzy. "Basically it's a slow blues. The bass plays double-time. The drums are three times up. So you get a 1-2-3 feeling. The soloist can choose his tempo and the piano has a lot of freedom." Note that Diz takes his solo slowly before Tubby Hayes comes out snorting fire and fury. After the piano solo, Dizzy has a most striking chorus, employing very few notes, with the changes just passing beneath him.

"I Had The Craziest Dream" was a pop song of World War II. It's a moving ballad vehicle for Dizzy, who plays a chorus and a half. "This tune's been with me all my life. A Jamaican trumpet-player named 'Bubbles' always played this tune. A sharp-looking cat, sort of Mexican-looking. He's a good friend of A.T., lives next door to him in New York. That's why I called it on this session. Terry plays nice changes here. And listen to A.T.!"

"Close-Up" is another Reece blues, but of a different hue than "Trinity." Don Byrd, who was visiting at the session, makes the first of two guest appearances on this track. Dizzy is first, then Tubby, then Byrd, with Dizzy leading off again after Terry's piano spot. The trumpet exchanges which follow remind me in places of an LP Byrd made in 1955 with Joe Gordon. Says Diz: "This was the swinger. A nice relaxed groove. No panic. A first take."

"Shepherd's Serenade" is an up-tempo 32-bar Reece romp. Byrd played on this one, too. The way he and Arthur work together here is quite uncanny. There's an empathy between them that is the result of much work together and understanding of each other. Dizzy takes off first. "There's a real earthy feeling. It's very natural." A.T.'s exchanges here are a gas. And Shannon wails as much as anyone.

"Color Blind" was originally written by Dizzy two years ago in Paris. It's a catchy 32-bar theme of two 16-bar sections. This was the first tune of the date and Reece and Hayes take fine solos.

"'Round About Midnight," by Thelonious Monk, is probably the most beautiful jazz ballad ever written. Tubby Hayes uses it for his tenor feature. His sound is softer on this track and his solo is very moving, especially around the coda. Terry and Lloyd accompany him with intelligence and sensitivity.

Here, then, is Dizzy Reece's first Blue Note album. And he's right: there's a lot of music here. He is a musician of sincerity and originality who should go to America as soon as possible ("I want to go so much"). I'm convinced that, in the New York environment, he could easily become one of the world's great jazz trumpeters.

--TONY HALL, from the liner notes.

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