I consider myself a lover of jazz but not a severe one. I'm far from a true tortured afficionado and I know for a fact these boards are soaking in heads farrrr more knowledgable than I am.

That being said, everytime I venture or stumble into the world of jazz heads, its Miles Miles Miles, Coltrane, Monk, Miles, Miles, Miles, Coltrane, Parker, Miles Miles Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, Miles Miles Miles - Miles - Miles Miles Miles John Coltrane, Bille-Ella-Louis, Miles Miles Miles, Basie...Hancock...um, Miles Miles Miles, Coltrane... Maybe Blakey (maybe)...Duke? Oh and definitely Miles and Coltrane.

But I rarely see anyone hang a Dizzy picture on their wall, namedrop him, or really ever celebrate dude much at all.

Anyways, I just wanted to throw some lesson shine on my personal favorite jazz icon.

jazz musicians weren't huge pop stars for the most part (Duke, Miles and Pops being exceptions), and Dizzy didn't die a tragic death (Coltrane, Charlie Parker)
but those that do know recognize Dizzy as one of jazz's great ambassadors as well as the greatest trumpet player ever from a technical standpoint (even Bird said that he wasn't as gifted with a sax as Dizzy was with a trumpet)

__________________________________________
CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!!
------------------------------------
Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell
Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this

vast sea of pretentious moody assholes who tend to set the cultural tone of critical appreciation

that was way too verbose, but i'm grasping at a simpler way to put it.

the singing bandleader thing, he'd be more known

I always liked his voice. He could have made lot's of fun/silly classics if he stayed with this kind of thing:

"Oop Bop Sh' Bam" !!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSC0zze3dz0

classic tone

but i'm just as glad he made all the other music

wait...

________________________________________________________________
whenever you did these things to the least of my brothers you did them to me

Not saying the reasons are valid or anything but still... First, dude was undeniably a pioneer and revolutionary in the bebop era and in his own way, just as radical as Charlie Parker. However, Parker for some reason-his more "interesting" life perhaps?-has completely overshadowed him.

Also, he didn't really make the transition from Bop to post-bop/whatever that Miles, Mingus,Coltrane etc. made and as a result, his artistry might sound a bit more "old-fashioned" than those guys; overall, it seems to me that people today are primarily into jazz from the hard-bop and post-bop and fusion-eras.

His vocals and "entertainer"-aspects is another thing that works against him when Miles is viewed as the epitome of "cool" and super-serious searchers like Coltrane or troubled/mentally instable weirdos like Monk and Mingus is what people seem to dig image-wise; he was maybe a bit too "Louis Armstrong" so to speak...

That being said, his experiments with Cuban music as well as be-bop in a big band context and other stuff are incredibly cool IMO and important/influential/whatever; he was very early in terms of that kind of shit. It might sound too "populist" though for people who view guys like Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders or even Yusef Lateef as the textbook examples of how "non-jazz" music should be incorporated in a jazz-context or Mingus as the quintessential "modern" big band guy (or Duke as the quintessential "old school" big bander).

That being said, dude definitely gets props but it is primarily for being a bebop innovator and unlike Monk, he didn't really take that style next level unless you count his and into the 50's-60's and unlike Miles, he didn't transcend numerous different eras and unlike Mingus (and Miles), he didn't make the big "important" album-statements and unlike Coltrane, he was never viewed as the poster dude for a new way of playing jazz (as I said, Parker occupies that space in bebop).

Basically, the older an artform gets, more and more important artists gets tossed to the side with every decade and while some people get some revisionist, cult-level appreciation, Dizzy was a bit too "mainstream" and successful for that too... It's sad but understandable as well, especially for an artform as marginalized as jazz... Note that it is happening in rock and soul and practically every other genre as well though.

Still, I wouldn't really view him as underappreciated like that though, he *is* a legend but you are right that his status is not on the level of other artists and it might be a bit undeserved in his case; I'm definitely a fan. I remember in the early 90's going to the library and borrowing a double-lp that compiled his big band and afro-cuban stuff from the late 40's-early 50's and it is some of the most fun music I've heard not to mention creative and brilliant and blah-blah...

>His vocals and "entertainer"-aspects is another thing that
>works against him when Miles is viewed as the epitome of
>"cool" and super-serious searchers like Coltrane or
>troubled/mentally instable weirdos like Monk and Mingus is
>what people seem to dig image-wise;
:
i think this plays an enormous role honestly, and it kinda sickens me. I've run into this general "optimism is wack, unhappy is legit" attitude in art school, in bands and musicians i was associated with, indie record store i worked at, etc, etc, etc, etc

Anthony Bourdain too! lol

Everyone has to be pissy or tragic or moody or awkward. God forbid you get people to smile or dance or something.

________________________________________________________________
whenever you did these things to the least of my brothers you did them to me

....post....

GOAT of his era......long live Prince.....God is alive....