For the first jazz release on his self-run Aleph label,
Schifrin flew to Cologne, Germany to record this solid remake of Gillespiana, his 1960 five-movement concerto for
Dizzy Gillespie with which
Schifrin had been touring earlier in 1996. Designed to illustrate the sources that inspired
Gillespie's music, the work remains one of the chameleonic
Schifrin's best in a big-band idiom, particularly the dynamic Afro-Cuban-flavored blues "Toccata" that closes the concerto. The choice of
Jon Faddis as
Gillespie's stand-in was, of course, a no-brainer, for
Faddis is the foremost
Gillespie disciple on the scene, and his high-wire performance here captures both the stratospheric
Gillespie of his youth and the mellower, slyer, muted
Gillespie of later years. Fellow
Jazz Meets the Symphony regular
Paquito D'Rivera has some hot solo passages on alto;
Alex Acuña and
Marcio Doctor are given percussion showcases;
Schifrin himself remains a persuasive jazz pianist, and Cologne's
WDR Big Band almost matches the electricity that
Schifrin's American bands generated on tour with this piece. As an encore,
Schifrin tacks on his pleasing bossa nova arrangement of
Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5," with trumpeter
Markus Stockhausen (son of composer
Karlheinz Stockhausen) playing the tune nice and mellow. ~ Richard S. Ginell