For John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, playing in a small combo was never enough. His artistry compelled him to seek and to create larger ensembles. Dizzy needed a big band for self-expression as a composer and arranger. Given that the final 75 percent of his career took place after 1950, when big band jazz no longer predominated, it’s remarkable that Dizzy Gillespie often created brilliant Jazz using grand-scale Big Bands and Orchestras right up to the end of his life in 1993.

And the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band tradition still lives, zestfully nurtured by Gillespie alumni, Jon Faddis and John Lee. They are, respectively, Musical Director and trumpeter, and Program Director and bassist of the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band. Jon Faddis was its Musical Director when Dizzy was still around and "Alumni" was not yet part of the name. The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars began in 1997; the Alumni All-Star Big Band debuted in 1998. Today, the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band is taking us to the next phase for Dizzy’s music—Big Band style.

That excursion began with Gillespie’s professional emergence with the best Big Bands of the Swing Era. Dizzy placed his compositions and arrangements into the repertoire of the bands in which he played—for example, "Ratamacue" and "Pickin’ The Cabbage" with Cab Calloway, as well as other name bands—for example, "Grand Central Getaway," with Jimmy Dorsey.

Gillespie’s partnership with Charlie Parker in the creation of BeBop found its expression in smaller groups. Yet at the zenith of their tandem, even as they introduced BeBop in a Gillespie-led quintet, Dizzy had a rehearsal Big Band on the side. This adventurous Big Band toured professionally in the summer of 1945.

That 1945 Big Band would be the training ground for the definitive Big Band of BeBop, the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra of 1946-1950. This group introduced four pieces heard on the 2002 live recording, Things To Come: "Things To Come," "Emanon," "Ray’s Idea," and "Manteca." As important as the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra was, it did not escape the economic demise of the Big Bands.

Dizzy Gillespie might never of had a full-time Big Band again if it hadn’t been for the U.S. State Department’s recognition at that time of the unique role music, especially Jazz, could play internationally. In 1956, the U.S. State Department sponsored, for cultural exchange and good will touring, a new incarntion of the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra. Both Quincy Jones and Benny Golson added music to Dizzy’s own book during this time. On this CD, we get updates of Jones’s "Jessica’s Day," and Golson classics like "Whisper Not," "Stablemates," and "I Remember Clifford."

Although critically aclaimed and popularly received the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra would again founder when federal funding ran out—keeping a Big Band together, much less touring, is a challenge. Yet Dizzy persisted, presenting his music for Big Band now and again in specially assembled ensembles for a given tour, concert, or album.

The Dizzy Gillespie— Alumni All-Star Big Band is the direct descendant of such "Diz ventures" and happily, features his senior statesman: Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, James Moody and Frank Wess. To fully express himself musically, Dizzy Gillespie often chose the context of a Big Band, and so, blessedly, do his prestigious alumni.

Jon Faddis’ career encompasses strong associations with Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Charles Mingus and recordings with Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra and Clark Terry. Born in Oakland, California, in 1953, Faddis began playing trumpet at age eight, inspired by an appearance of Louis Armstrong on The Ed Sullivan Show. By his mid-teens, Faddis had met Dizzy Gillespie while sitting in with Gillespie’s combo at the famed Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. "In Performance," a 1982 White House event, was a turning point in Faddis’ career. The occasion was a ceremony where Gillespie and several other major American artists were asked to showcase young colleagues who were "on the verge of exceptional careers." Gillespie invited Faddis to perform.

John Lee, bassist, composer, education and producer is the program director for "’Dizzy: The Man and the Music," the official concert and clinic program celebrating the life and work of John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie. Lee joined the Dizzy Gillespie Group in 1984 and was a member of Gillespie’s various bands including the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, the 70th Anniversary Big Band and the United Nation Orchestra. Lee played with Gillespie until he became ill in 1992.

James Moody, received an alto saxophone as a gift from his uncle at the age of 16. Within a few years, Moody moved to the deeper sound of the tenor saxophone after hearing Buddy Tate and Don Byas. Upon his discharge from the United States Air Force in 1947, Moody joined the influential bebop big band of Dizzy Gillespie and then recorded with trumpeter Howard McGhee and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. The following year, Moody made his recording debut as a bandleader in James Moody and His Bop Men for Blue Note, using players for the Gillespie big band. While living in Europe, Moody recorded his famous, Moody’s Mood For Love. Upon returning to the United States, Moody rejoined Gillespie in 1963 performing with Gillespie for the rest of the 1960s.

Slide Hampton, a master trombonist, composer, arranger and teacher is a formidable champion of the jazz tradition. His mission to bring jazz to audiences around the world has placed him as the international ambassador of jazz. Hampton worked with Gillespie on and off since the 1960s, spending a significant amount of time with Gillespie beginning in 1988 while serving as musical director of the United Nations Orchestra, along with Paquito D’Rivera. Hampton also served as musical director for "Dizzy’s Diamond Jubilee," a year-long celebration in honor of Gillespie’s 75th birthday year.

Referred to as "Little Bird" due to his Charlie Parker-style, Jimmy Heath—the middle Heath of the Heath Brothers—was born in Philadelphia in October 1926. Heath grew up in a household full of music and took up the alto saxophone, switching to tenor saxophone after World War II. Heath also played with the Howard McGhee band and then as a featured soloist in the Dizzy Gillespie big band. Contributing original works to the big band, Gillespie performed Heath’s tunes throughout his career.