Columnist Joe Delaney: Faddis carrying on Gillespie’s music, memory

Joe Delaney

Friday, Feb. 23, 2001 | 9:48 a.m.

Joe Delaney's columns appear on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com.

Master trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's music lives with the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars, directed by trumpeter Jon Faddis, performing through Saturday at the Blue Note Las Vegas ... Faddis is also musical director and conductor of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra, award winners for a Duke Ellington Memorial Tour and a resulting television concert in 1999.

Faddis is joined by saxophonist James ("Moody Mood For Love") Moody, trombonist Slide Hampton, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist John Lee and drummer Dennis Mackrel, each an outstanding jazz performer in his own right ... Moody spent several years in the reed section of the Las Vegas Hilton orchestra, then under the direction of Joe Guercio.

Moody's recording of "Moody Mood For Love," with special lyrics by King Pleasure, was an award-winning, best-selling jazz recording ... Gillespie and his music touched the lives of each of the alumni ... He ranks with Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Bunny Berigan and Roy Eldridge as a major musical contributor as a trumpet player.

Eldridge was Gillespie's idol and mentor until Gillespie joined forces with Charlie Parker in the mid-1940s as the co-founders of the bebop movement ... We were there when Gillespie and Parker first appeared together in New York City's Town Hall ... Gillespie went on to form a big band that combined jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythms ... Parker died on March 12, 1955.

Despite his bandstand antics and unusual attire that earned him the affectionate nickname "Dizzy," Gillespie was a consummate musician, ever expanding his horizons and a great help to young upcoming players ... He was a major factor in helping the great trumpeter Arturo Sandoval escape from Castro's Cuba.

Pick up "Roy and Dix," Eldridge and Gillespie, a CD on the Verve label recorded in 1954, and a 1975 CD on the Pablo label of Eldridge, Gillespie and Clark Terry, with pianist Oscar Peterson, bassist Niels Pederson and drummer Louis Bellson at the Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival ... Meanwhile you can enjoy Faddis, Moody, Hampton, et al, the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars at the Blue Note.

Weekend wrap-up

More good jazz: Bobby McFerrin, a vocal orchestra, conducting and performing with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, tonight at 8 o'clock, UNLV's Ham Hall, part of the Charles Vanda Master Series ... Tonight is also Jazz Night at Pogo's; Saturday, it's the Ernie George Trio with Gus Mancuso and Dr. Tom Ferguson, 7:30-11:30 p.m. (Paisano's); on Sunday, try the World's Smallest Jazz Band, 2-5 p.m. (Swede's Corner); and Monday, it's the Don Menza Big Band (Riviera).

Flamingo Las Vegas "Lasting Impressions" star Bill Acosta is the honoree at the Club Italia's Third Annual Dinner Dance, tonight (Palace Station); the Four Tops are the attraction tonight at 8 o'clock (Buffalo Bill's Star of the Desert Arena) ... Peter Frampton performs at 9 o'clock tonight and Saturday (Rio's Samba Theatre).

"The Redness of the Woodpecker" will be performed this weekend and next, UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre ... The 22nd Annual Choreographer's Showcase is at 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday (Charleston Heights Center) ... The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra plays for dancing, free, 7-10 p.m. Saturday, Stardust Ballroom; a bequest from the late Lamont Patterson.

The LV Master Singers perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, Clark County Library ... Neither "Forever Plaid" (Flamingo) nor Fielding West (Lady Luck) should have to leave town after both acts close ... See you next Thursday.