Dizzy Gillespie’s United Notions Form a New Band

More than three decades have elapsed since the release of an album entitled “Dizzy Gillespie: World Statesman.” At that time Gillespie was leading an all-star orchestra in the Middle East on the first jazz tour ever sent overseas under official State Department auspices.

Of the many international events with which the trumpeter has since been involved, none has been more distinctly multicultural in character than the 15-piece orchestra he organized last month for a domestic tour.

“It was my idea,” says Gillespie, “and it was my title too.” Billed as Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Superspace Band, the ensemble plays Sunday in Costa Mesa and Tuesday at the Greek Theatre. Part of the band--mainly the percussion section--will appear with Gillespie on the “Tonight Show” Monday.

“We have a Puerto Rican, three Brazilians, including Flora Purim and Airto; a West Indian--that’s my pianist, Monty Alexander--and two Cubans,” the 70-year-old grand sire of bebop reported. One of the Cubans is Ignacio Berroa, the drummer with Gillespie’s regular band; the other is Paquito D’Rivera, a saxophonist whom Gillespie first met when he embarked on a jazz festival cruise to Havana in 1977.

“Paquito was playing in a Cuban band called Irakere. During our visit we sat in with a lot of Cuban musicians at a theater in Havana. I was very impressed with him.” (D’Rivera defected to the U.S. some years ago and has since established himself as a successful leader of his own group.)

“I’ve been back to Cuba three times since that first visit,” Gillespie added. “I’ve got a movie coming from there, you know. We took a film crew down a couple of years ago. Fidel Castro is in it. I just went by his office and we had an interview. He wouldn’t speak English--he used an interpreter, but I’m sure he understood everything I said while I was saying it.” The film is being shown at festivals overseas but has not yet gained U.S. exposure.

The mixture of cultures and languages was no problem for any of the participants in the United Nations Orchestra. “All the guys speak good enough English,” said Gillespie, “and everyone enjoyed putting together a library for his project. We’re using some written music and some head arrangements.”

The horn section includes Jon Faddis, the iron-chopped young Gillespie protege who has played his trumpet with him off and on for several years; Claudio Roditi, the Brazilian trumpeter who works regularly with Paquito D’Rivera’s group; Slide Hampton and Steve Turre on trombones; Sam Rivers, Gillespie’s permanent tenor saxophonist; James Moody, an often-returning Gillespie alumnus, also on tenor sax; and D’Rivera on saxophones and flute.

Adventurous musical colors are second nature to Gillespie; his compositions, all the way back to “Night in Tunisia” in 1942, have frequently had an exotic flavor. Some of the familiar pieces that have been adapted to the present band are “Manteca,” “Fiesta Mojo,” “Tanga,” and “Lorraine” (dedicated to his wife of 48 years).

When this tour is over, there may well be pressure on Gillespie to revert to a much more commercially oriented format. An album he made a few months ago with a fusion band, “Endlessly” (Impulse 42153), is at No. 10 with a bullet on the Billboard jazz chart this week.

“Yes, it’s a little different,” says Gillespie, “and it’s certainly one way to go. Meanwhile, we’re having an awful lot of fun with the superspace band. Talk about music as the international language--man, this is it!”