Often in the early days of the modern jazz movement, players would come up with the most dazzling tempos, complex chord changes, intricate melodies, and tricky rhythmic breaks imaginable, as much to challenge themselves as to keep the squares from trying to get on the bandstand and jam.
For Musicians Only is just that, and then some.
Gillespie, the great virtuoso trumpeter, is joined on the front line by
Stan Getz and
Sonny Stitt for a blowing session of phenomenal proportions.
Gillespie's demanding tune "Bebop," and Denzil Best's "Wee (Allen's Alley)" (based on "I Got Rhythm") are given brisk, wailing treatments. Both tunes highlight
Stitt's scampering alto,
Getz's dancing, mentholated tenor (very much in his
Lester Young mode), and
Gillespie's coiled, tempestuous trumpet. The tough, swinging rhythm section really distinguishes itself on the standards "Dark Eyes" and "Lover Come Back to Me" (particularly bassist
Ray Brown). They always manage to keep a hint of the basic tune in the foreground, no matter how free the soloists get.
Gillespie is inspired throughout, and
For Musicians Only contains some of his spunkiest, most pugnacious solos.