By Bill Milkowski | Published April 2020
This tribute to Dizzy Gillespie’s 1964 tongue-in-cheek run for president is bristling with energy and the kind of joie de vivre that the trumpeter embodied. Along with a stellar crew, trumpeter-composer John Bailey pays homage to his hero while raising issues of social justice in America.
After opening on a blazing note with “Pebbles In The Pocket,” the band settles into the three-movement President Gillespie Suite, which begins with the entrancing, Latin-tinged “The Humanitarian Candidate” and has the leader emulating Dizzy’s inventive phrasing on muted trumpet. The second movement, “Road To The Blues House,” features guest Earl McIntyre with some hip vocalizations on bass trombone and finds Bailey slyly quoting from “Walkin’” over a four-horn free-for-all. The bouncing third movement, “President Gillespie’s Birthday Song,” is an uptempo swinger with a tricky, boppish line played in unison by the horns before Bailey and saxophonist Stacy Dillard break off for some scintillating trading of eights with drummer Victor Lewis. Bailey delivers with clarity and lyricism on Chico O’Farrill’s beautiful “Ballad From Oro, Incienso Y Mirra.” Dillard’s appealing jazz waltz, “Elite State Of Mind,” featuring guest flutist Janet Axelrod, has the potent young saxophonist stretching out on a bold-toned tenor solo before Stafford Hunter follows with an expressive trombone solo.
The most dramatic piece here is Lewis’ expansive “The Touch Of Her Vibe,” featuring fiery exchanges between the leader on flugelhorn and Dillard on tenor. Bailey closes with a tasty duo take of Jules Styne’s “People.”
Can You Imagine?: Pebbles In The Pocket; President Gillespie Suite; The Touch Of Her Vibe; The Blues House; Ballad From Oro, Incienso Y Mirra; Elite State Of Mind; Valso Rancho; From The Heart; People. (62:08)
Personnel: John Bailey, trumpet, flugelhorn; Stacy Dillard, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Stafford Hunter, trombone; Edsel Gomez, piano; Mike Karn, bass; Victor Lewis, drums, percussion; Janet Axelrod, flute, alto flute, bass flute; Earl McIntyre, bass trombone, tuba.
