Continuing our Post-World War 2 Jazz excursion with the immortal Dizzy Gillespie, the man who turned Jazz inside out and freed everybody up in the process. Tonight it's his 1947 classic for RCA-Victor Manteca, a track he co-wrote with Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo, a primary figure in Gillespie's exploration of Afro-Cuban rhythms. Pozo was only briefly with the band, as his untimely death in 1948 robbed the Jazz world of a major contributor. But Pozo's influence carried on for decades and it was this new aspect of Jazz that stayed with Gillespie. And this 1947 original explains why. Incidentally, it's off an original 78 and not from the CD reissue, so it might sound a bit different.
It's been recorded by Dizzy Gillespie many times over the years - but this is the first one, recorded on December 1947 and it features Chano Pozo on percussion.
