Gillespie, Dizzy: Ebullient, The Mr. Gillespie (Verve By Request) LP

The band Gillespie assembled for this date – Junior Mance, Les Spann, Sam Jones, and Lex Humphries - was for the most part a working band on the club and concert circuit, offering a mixture of Gillespie's entertaining songs, established repertoire, and some Latin and African-influenced pieces. With them, Dizzy found a middle ground in his music that gave his legacy room to breathe, but with much more rhythmic variety. The Verve by Request Series features 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Third Man in Detroit.