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Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra was the big band of the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, one of the founders of bebop. Whereas bebop was usually played in small groups, Gillespie wanted to bring that fast, intricate music to a large orchestra as well. In the second half of the 1940s he led such a big band in New York.

Music and breakthrough

In 1947 Gillespie brought the Cuban conga player Chano Pozo into his orchestra. With that, Afro-Cuban rhythms found their way into jazz. From that collaboration came pieces such as Manteca and Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, which Gillespie made with Pozo and the arranger George Russell. In Cubana Be, Cubana Bop the music rests on a scale instead of a row of chords, and the conga plays alongside the horns of the big band.

Influence

This blend of bebop and Cuban rhythms later came to be called Afro-Cuban jazz. With it, Gillespie's orchestra showed that jazz could open itself to music from other parts of the Americas.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Cubana Be, Cubana Bop. Notice Chano Pozo's conga alongside the horns, and how the music stays on one scale for a long time instead of constantly changing chord.

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists