Dizzy Gillespie - Dee Gee Days (2LP Set)

Finding himself without a recording contract in early 1951, Dizzy Gillespie (with the help of businessman and jazz fan Dave Usher) started his own label, Dee Gee, and released a series of 78rpm discs recorded at five sessions between March 1951 and July 1952.

It’s obvious that these sides were released with commercial success in mind as many of the tracks come under the category of hep/jive/novelty/ with Joe “Bebop” Carroll or Dizzy himself on hepcat vocals, plus there’s a couple of Billy Eckstine type ballads with Melvin Moore taking over on vocal duties. It’s all good stuff though, with small group backing which includes John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Budd Johnson, Percy Heath, Milt Jackson, and somewhat surprisingly, swing era violinist Stuff Smith.

UK downloaders may be rather disorientated by the inclusion of “Umbrella Man” in the band’s repertoire as this song (under the title “Any Umbrellas”) is invariably associated with music hall act Flanagan and Allen.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/148657988/Dee_Gee_Days.rar

Or here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XZ3XMKVB

Disc 1

1. Tin Tin Deo
2. Birk's Works
3. We Love To Boogie
4. Lady Be Good
5. Love Me Pretty Baby
6. The Champ
7. I'm In A Mess
8. School Days
9. Swing Low Sweet Cadillac
10. Bopsie's Blues (unreleased)
11. Bopsie's Blues
12. I Couldn't Beat The Rap

Disc 2

1. Caravan (unissued)
2. Caravan
3. Nobody Knows
4. The Bluest Blues
5. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
6. Stardust
7. Time On My Hands
8. Blue Skies
9. Umbrella Man
10. Pops' Confessin'
11. Ooh-Shoo-Be-Doo-Bee
12. They Can't Take That Away From Me