At the Jazz Club, the more Dizzy the better

--Nancy Cheever

One of the great jazz composers of the 20th century, Dizzy Gillespie,

will be honored at a tribute concert at the Jazz Club at The Center today

through Sunday.

“Dizzy: The Man and His Music” features an impressive lineup of artists

including Roy Hargrove, Don Braden, Robin Eubanks, Mulgrew Miller, John

Lee and Ignacio Berroa.

Gillespie, known as one of the founders of the bebop jazz movement, is

most recognized by his bubbling cheeks and upturned trumpet.

He began as a self-taught player, and his gift won him a scholarship at

the Laurinburg Institute. In 1935 he moved to Philadelphia and recorded

with Teddy Hill, and in 1939 joined Cab Calloway’s band.

It was the after-hours work during the early 1940s that led to the bebop

sound, a movement that would spawn a new generation of jazz musicians.

During his lifetime, Gillespie performed with such greats at Ella

Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Duke

Ellington, Lionel Hampton and others. He died in 1993 of cancer.

Selections from Gillespie’s career will be showcased at the Jazz Club

with Hargrove on trumpet, Braden on saxophone, Eubanks on trombone,

Miller on piano and Berroa on drums.

Braden has worked with Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard and Roy Haynes,

and is the music arranger for the new Bill Cosby sitcom, “Cosby.”

Eubanks has a wide musical background and performed with the Rolling

Stones, Talking Heads and Barbra Streisand on her 1994 tour. He is music

director for Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

Composer, educator and producer Lee performs, writes and produces the

Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars and various other jazz bands.

Miller has a background in the blues/gospel flavor of his native

Mississippi. In 1977 he performed in New York with Ellington, and in 1995

a New York Times poll voted him most in-demand pianist by his peers.

Cuban-born Berroa graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in

1970 and in 1980 moved to New York City, where he began performing and

recording. He was included in the Dizzy Gillespie quartet in 1981, and

was affiliated with the late musician until 1992. He toured Africa in

1989 with Gillespie in a U.S. State Department-sponsored “Jazz

Ambassador” event.

FYI

“Dizzy: The Man and His Music” is scheduled for 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. today

and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $36 for the 9:30 p.m.

performances and $42 for the 1 and 7:30 p.m. performances.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center is at 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa. For more information, call (714) 556-2787.