I am NOT a fan of this interviewer at all, but I appreciate you for posting this interview. I ADORE this man. Dizzy Gillespie was the first non-Hispanic to appreciate and to champion Afro-Cuban jazz. His friendship with Chano Pozo and with Mario Bauzá helped to revolutionize the sound of jazz itself.
The interviewer sounds very condescending. He had the nerve to say to Dizzy that his cheek muscles puffed-out due to weakness, and Dizzy's reponse, "I don't know what it is but I don't sound too weak do I?" Classic response! Not to mention that he ask Dizzy a question and then interrupts him in the process of answering it, to provide his own incorrect answer. Very unprofessional annyoing bloke!
it's pretty insane how so many interviews with jazz greats are so condescending. the miles davis interviews, especially the ones from the usa like 60 minutes, are enough to make me sick.
The interviewer is lame as fuck and I dislike him but the neck thing is indeed caused by certain muscles in the pharynx becoming weak. It doesn't imply the trumpeter will become a weak player in any sense... clearly!
I feel you although I think he was asking about muscles weakening in reference to how big this man head got when he puffed his cheeks lmao. I am also pretty astonished this man could puff out his whole neck!
Diz is just the sweetest and most charming character in Jazz, ever. Beautiful human being. I think the interviewer is Dick Cavett. He is certainly not an ass. He is actually quite sympathetic; Nicer than many other TV hosts, I can think of.
You're 100% right. He's a condescending bigoted prick. "Your daddy, your momma." He's a grown man, anytime a white person says that crap to a black person it's condescending and disrespectful.
So, DizzyFanatic,...there was an HBO special on Quincy Jones, 20 something years ago, that had Miles, Dizzy,...tons of other people,....but the Dizzy portions of the interview were priceless, including a story he told about Charlie Parker. In the story, he and Bird were playing some club down south and somebody broke a bottle over Dizzy's head. Charlie came out and found Dizzy bleeding and according to him, Bird said, "you cur,....you have struck my friend." Even in the seriousness of the situation Dizzy found humor in Parker calling this guy a "cur". I'd love to see that again. Any chance you have access to that? At any rate, enjoyed what you have.
@@gstar-365 If dogs understood English, they would be offended at being called a cur. When you use the word cur, you're talking about a dog that's either a mutt, very unattractive, aggressive, or all three. The word can also be used as an insult for a person, especially a despicable man.
the questions the interviewer males, my god. asking about money and shit like that.... Diz did it because he loved the music... gaining stuff was not even in his wildest dreams... his life was to phrase like he did, and as he does because he will remain alive in his music, and though humanity doesn't listen to this quality of fine and elegant music anymore, there will always be a kid like me who will be blown away by the frog man, wailing at incredible tempos and connecting those movements with that bebop idiom:) i love you Diz, thank you for your energy....
I saw Diz and Sara Vaughn, Max Roach, and Buddy R. At Monterey Jazz! Dizzie was dressed so casual in African dress! He played Congas between trumpet solos.Diz introduced this well dressed man in a suit, from Jullards, plays rumpet! The young man was excellent, playin rapid fire notes, clean and slick. Dizzy watched him, as Diz played congas. Diz smiled at the youngster. Then, it was Dizzies turn. Weren't no triplets nor musical acrobatics. Diz took his time, held his horn then casually, pressed the horn to his lips and took his time with every note. So beautiful and soulful. I was blessed, as were all the audience, black and white. Yes sir. Mr. Gillespie, music is universal! Thank ya !!
when he says, "you didn't carry your trumpet in a brown paper bag" he is referring to Bix Beiderbecke, a very influential cornet player from the 20's...he lost his mind and would walk around town with his cornet in a brown paper bag...tragic story
Because of his dizzy personality, people often forget that he was a profoundly advanced musical genius, an innovative virtuoso, composer, and improviser of the very first rank !
Damn what a trumpet player. Saying you can never master it; feeling that the instrument has its own personality and playing accordingly. I wish I was that musical to feel that way about any instrument.
I'm a musician and a music journalist who always knows his subject and the people I interview can tell that I'm one of them and it makes a huge difference. I never got to interview Diz! I would have been prepared.
what, I never knew that Dizzy is such a great guy, super funny humble sensitive intelligent tough. he got it ! I love him now!! Im listening all of his recordings different from now on, Im looking much forward to play some of his solos, to become a little little little bit like him or at least understand a way of his thinking.
Diz was my teachers teacher - a musical genius on the level of Mozart. This is no exaggeration. I challenge anyone to scat sing what Diz did at the beginning of the interview :-)
Akinseye-actually Dizzy DID have a condition which caused his cheeks to bullfrog out (if you will) like they did and it sadly did catch up with him as he got older. Many of us trumpeters can get a rupture in the neck (or lower), which will cause the same effect (like Bill Chase had) that is caused by "bottle-ing" up the air and delaying your attacks when you're coming along. What Diz had was different, true the guy doing the interview seemed out of his element asking a lot of useless questions.
Glad some of the other comments called out the interviewer for what he was -- a condescending, arrogant display. Imagine standing in front of one of the grand masters of American music and calling him "weak" and "a poor boy from Cheraw". Embarrassing!
This guy is not a great interviewer (and he is NOT Dick Cavett*) but he is forgotten and Dizzy lives on as one of history's great musicians - both as player and person. Great to hear him talk. *Interviewer sounds similar to Dick Cavett but if you listen to any of the many Dick Cavett interviews on youtube you can tell it is not him.
I SUSPECT THE ANNUAL BUBBLE GUM BLOWING COMPETITION ORGANISERS WOULD'VE BANNED GILLESPIE FORTHRIGHT FROM EVER ENTERING WHAT UNDOUBTEDLY WOULD BE AN ASSUMED 'BREEZE' EVENT FOR THE LEGEND!
@decus69 I think i read somewhere that he got the name because his "Dizzy" personality. Not entirely sure. I would of loved to of met him. Seems such a chilled nice dude.
this interviewer doesn't seem respectful, he is in the presence of greatness, saying he has weak throat muscles as a world reknown trumpet player is like saying Michael Jordan can't jump.
Yeah, I agree with previous comments. The interviewer is being eeeeever so slightly exploitative here. Not sure what the word for that is, but it's noticeable.
I think everyone is saying the interviewer is a jerk because the video is edited in such a way as to almost seem as if the interviewer is interrupting or switching subjects while Dizzy is speaking. That's just it. It's an edited interview.
Some of the people leaving comments criticizing the interviewer appear to me as being guilty of racial snobbery. The interviewer, who obviously is white, was very down to earth and genuinely curious. He asked good questions that many people who aren’t Dizzy experts would want to ask if given the opportunity. And both men obviously enjoyed each other’s company. I was lucky enough to see DG play a gig in 1989. But I have no patience with some of these “woke” elitists who think that they wrote the book on how to conduct an interview with jazz musicians.
The interviewer attempting some bizarre affected accent which is not native to his speech is so unbelievably offensive. I met Mr. Gillespie when I was a teenager after a concert he performed in Massachusetts. There were 5 or 10 of us young folk there. He was incredibly warm and friendly to us, he spoke to us for about 30 minutes. Truly nice man.
