Broadcast on 22-Feb-2010

This Feature is a large orchestral piece written by Boris (Lalo) Schifrin that features Dizzy Gillespie as chief soloist. It was Lalo's last contribution to Dizzy's music after spending two years with Mr. Gillespie as his pianist and arranger. Lalo, of course had written the more famous "Gillespiana Suite" for Dizzy but this six movement piece is much more of an orchestral excursion and is much more about Lalo than Dizzy. It features the Gillespie quintet of the time (Dizzy, James Moody, Chris White on bass and Rudy Collins on drums) with a large orchestra filled with Jazz playing studio players like Al Porcino and Conte Candoli, Phil Woods, Bill Perkins, Frank Rosolino, Mel Lewis and so many more. In all a 27 piece orchestra. The eminent Benny Carter conducts the band and the date was produced in Hollywood by Quincy Jones and the suite was introduced at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival. It was issued on Limelight Records (a subsidiary of Mercury records) and remains unissued on CD. The composition is a tribute to Gillespie in that it musically acknowledges Dizzy's contribution to Jazz, other than being a ground breaking trumpeter, as a person who was able to introduce other musics into the mainstream of Jazz. Dizzy was the first to bring Afro-Cuban concepts into Jazz in the 1940's. He brought Middle Eastern concepts and ideas into Jazz and was the first to bring the Brazilian form, the Bossa Nova into Jazz music's mainstream. This is what "The New Continent" is about. Aside from Gillespie, we hear solos by Larry Bunker on vibes, Al Henrickson on guitar, Frank Rosolino on trombone and from Schifrin himself on piano. The real star is the orchestra which navigates of the changing moods with ease. If you use your imagination you can create your own movie from the various themes, moods and tempos of this amazing piece. This album was the last collaboration between Lalo Schifrin and Dizzy Gillespie and it's a fitting farewell.