Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie & Harry Edison - 1955 Tour De Force

During the JATP “golden” period, 1944-1958, a lot of albums were recorded, live or in the studios. Strangely enough, this studio session, which remains one of the best ever made in that context, has never been reissued on CD. The blowing is superb, and every [bad word] is [bad word] each together but conversing each together, which is very rare and important to emphasize. We know that neither Dizzy nor “Sweets” were ever eager of these kinds of settings (battles of the horns). In the contrary, Roy was a king at that. He really loved it! But in this reunion, he plays more naturally and he’s more relaxed that he used to be, which it gives us a much better good idea of what he really could do -very well- at that time. Three major soloists in full top form backed by a firm swinging rhythm section.

01. Steeplechase (Peterson-Eldridge-Gillespie-Edison) (17:18)
Solos order: Peterson, Eldridge, Gillespie, Edison

02. Ballad Medley (8:40)
a) I’m Throug With Love (Malneck-Kahn-Livingstone)
Soloist: Roy Eldridge
b) The Nearness Of You (Carmichael-Washington)
Soloist: Dizzy Gillespie
c) Moonlight In Vermont (Blackburn-Suessdorf)
Soloist: Roy Eldridge
d) Summertime (& I Gershwin)
Soloist: Dizzy Gillespie

03. Tour De Force (Gileespie) (11:12)
Solos order: Edison, Eldridge, Gillespie, Peterson

Recorded in New York City, on November 2, 1955 (1, 3) and October 16, 1956 (2)
Originally issued as Verve (MGV-8212).

Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry “Sweets” Edison (tp)
Oscar Peterson (p)
Herb Ellis (g)
Ray Brown (b)
Buddy Rich (d)