Marty Ashby is joined by drummer and jazz historian Thomas Wendt for a look at one of the most remarkable ensembles of the 1950s: Dizzy Gillespie’s State Department Big Band.
In the mid-1950s, Gillespie led this all-star orchestra on international tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department—using jazz as cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. The result was a band packed with emerging stars and established masters at a pivotal moment in modern jazz.
The personnel reads like a roll call: trumpeters Quincy Jones, Lee Morgan, and Joe Gordon; saxophonists and arrangers Benny Golson, Ernie Wilkins, and Phil Woods; trombonist Melba Liston; pianists Wynton Kelly and Walter Davis Jr.; and drummer Charli Persip, driving the band with authority.
Pittsburgh’s own Mary Lou Williams appears with the band on “Carioca,” recorded at Newport. Her unmistakable harmonic voice brings a distinctive edge to the ensemble and highlights the band’s flexibility and depth.
We’ll draw from recordings made between 1956 and 1957, albums like World Statesman, Dizzy in Greece, Birks' Works, At Newport, and more to explore how this group balanced sophisticated arrangements, Afro-Cuban influence, hard bop energy, and Dizzy’s unmistakable personality.
Jazz as music, message, and movement—played by some of the greatest musicians of the era, on a global stage.
Hear it on the MCG Jazz Spotlight - Friday and Sunday night at 6, Saturday afternoon at 1 on WZUM
Thomas Wendt
