Gillespie All Stars To Honor Influential Musician With Danbury Concert

DANBURY — One of the most innovative and influential figures in 20th Century music passed away on January 6, 1993, at the age of 75. Now, some of his closest music disciples celebrate the master’s legacy and his enduring spirit.

On Thursday, August 23, at 8 pm, The Dizzy™ Gillespie Alumni All Stars will perform in Ives Concert Hall.

The All Stars is comprised of six giants of the world of jazz and stellar in their own right who have played with and/or share the passion to carry on the music of one of the original and influential figures in the history of jazz: the immortal and jazz innovator John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie.

The show will be a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie by offering and keeping alive the style and music of Gillespie known as bebop and other first time innovations of his fusions of African-American jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythms that changed the music world. Gillespie’s own compositions will be featured such as “Salt Peanuts,” “Fiesta Mojo,” “A Night in Tunisia,” “Manteca,” “Woody ‘n You,” and many others performed by an all-star cast of jazz giants and some of the most important musicians in jazz today.

The sextet is comprised of Jon Faddis, a trumpet player and director of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band based in New York City and heir-apparent and protégé of Gillespie’s distinct style.

Mr Faddis is a master in his own right and regarded by many as the greatest jazz trumpeter today. According to Gillespie himself, “he’s the best ever, including me!”

Slide Hampton, on trombone, is known as one of the most important jazz trombonists of all time. He was a founding member of Dizzy’s United Nation Jazz Orchestra and worked with Gillespie from 1963 to 1990.

Cyrus Chestnut, on piano, is one of the great new jazz pianists in demand today who toured with Gillespie in the early 1990s. Antonio Hart, saxophone, who at a relatively young age established himself as a leader in the jazz scene, and John Lee, bass, who was Gillespie’s bass player from 1984 to 1992 and currently plays with giants Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard and others, will also be in Danbury for the concert.

The All Stars are rounded out by drummer Tony Reedus, who performs with Art Farmer, Joe Lovano, Mercer Ellington Orchestra and Freddie Hubbard.

Tickets for the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Stars are $35 for adults, reserved seating, in advance; $35 general admission at the door or $25 general admission in advance; $20 at the door for students and children age 18 or younger or $15 at the door.

Tickets for the August 23 concert can be purchased in Danbury at Danbury Music Centre, 256 Main Street, and Marie Nugent Personnel Services, 12 Mill Plain Road; and in Brookfield at Gerosa Records, 246 Federal Road.

In Newtown, tickets can be purchased at First Union Bank (the Newtown branch office only), 7 Queen Street. Tickets are also available at Ridgefield Music, at 19 Governor Street; New Milford Music Center, 60 Bank Street; and Village Flower Shop, Route 37 in New Fairfield.

Call 825-3131 or visit www.cperformance.org for additional information.