When the Bird/Lee Morgan analogy was made several posts ago, part of the reason I didn’t understand the comparison was that, if that kind of comparison to Bird had to be made, Dizzy was, for me, the obvious choice. He was right there with Bird as one of the creators and shapers of be-bop and, as a trumpet player, opened the door to a way of playing the instrument in jazz that was new; like Bird, he brought a level of sheer technicality (speed) and range not heard before. Personally, I never much liked Dizzy’s tone since it usually sounded pinched and like it was being squeezed out of the instrument. Just my personal taste and his playing was always exciting and very harmonically interesting. My own feeling about his contribution to shaping be-bop is that it is somewhat underacknowledged since Bird is always the one given the overwhelming amount of credit and everyone else, even Dizz, is a bit of an afterthought. I have to wonder how it would have changed jazz had Dizzy not lived. He had a long career and tremendous discography, but he was and remained a bebopper and the later projects in which he played funky or in other non-bebop styles weren’t quite as convincing as his bebop stuff was for me. To me he always sounded like a bebopper playing a different style. And, of course, there is the tremendous contribution he made by bringing Cuban music into the mix and as an embassador of jazz with that great very affable stage persona. One of the greats without a doubt.
But, compare to Miles? We will come up against the same issues as the other comparison and why I don’t quite get what this kind of comparison shows without putting it all in strict historical (evolution) context. As great and influential as Dizzy was, technically (no pun) he stopped being relevant (aside from his great bebop legacy) in the evolution of the music from the time hardbop came along. He was a bebopper and arguably the best. Where are his hardbop or post-bop recordings like what Miles was doing in the 60’s and beyond? Or, where is Dizzy’s "KOB"? We can compare Dizzy to bebop era Miles; that would be meaningful. And actually, I have always preferred Dizzy’s bebop playing over Miles’; certainly while they were each with Bird. But, Dizzy’s playing and vocabulary stayed there while Miles’ moved on; big time.
As instrumentalists... apples and oranges. Reason I never cared for Dizzy’s tone is that in order to play as squeaky high as he did some players take the "squeeze the note out" approach as opposed to the more relaxed approach which yields a fuller richer tone. He had A LOT of technique and speed; probably more than Miles. But he never sounded like he could play softly and controlled like Miles could.
I think that strateahed’s comment is very appropriate here:
**** ....when we look at jazz, unless we accept the premise that it encompasses more than bebop and hard bop, then there is no need for further discussion. ****
Dizzy was a giant who made tremendous contributions to the music. Miles remains a giant among giants, imo.
