The Dizzy Gillespie (tm) All-Star Big Band, a veritable who's who among jazz musicians, was formed in the summer of 1998 to perform Dizzy Gillespie's classic big band repertoire and continue the legacy left by the late master... They will come to Europe in 2009 with a new album, while in 2009 and 2010 differnt line ups and programmes willbe availbale as follows:
>The Dizzy Gillespie (tm) All Stars (6tet) - Spring 2009 - travelling party:  6-7
> The Dizzy Gillespie (tm) All Star Big Band - Summer 2009 - travelling party: +/- 20
(new album to be released first half of 2009) 
> Dizzy Gillespie (tm) "The Symphony Sessions"  - Summer 2009 = 6tet plus local orchestra in an incredible programme performing some fabulous music that includes Dizzy´s hits like Manteca, Night in Tunesia, Tin Tin deo etc. with full string section ...

"...what carried the show is this sharp-eared outfit's easy communication, it's seemingly offhanded mastery of some of jazz's trickiest and most stimulating music".
( Gene Santoro - New York Daily News)

"It was a showcase of virtuosity and personality, as the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars blew and scatted their way through 'the man' and his music... When this outfit trades solos in cruise-control, it's a total slice of heaven."
(Jay Meehan - The Park Record)

"They started off with 'Salt Peanuts' and never looked back. It was tight and loose and in your face." Valerie Cruice - New York Times



The band includes many Gillespie alumni including Musical Director, Slide Hampton, and one of Dizzy's closest associates and collaborators, James Moody. Other alumni include Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Paquito D`Rivera, Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart, Claudio Roditi, Douglas Purviance and the band's Executive Director, John Lee, Dizzy's longtime bassist.

Many of the arrangements performed by the band are "vintage" and were written for Dizzy's big bands of the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s-but they could hardly be described as old or dated. In fact, they continue to stimulate and challenge jazz musicians today just as they continue to dazzle and delight audiences around the world. Some were written by Dizzy himself, others commissioned from among such distinguished arrangers as Quincy Jones, Gil Fuller, Tadd Dameron, Lalo Schifrin, Melba Liston, and Benny Golson.   Newer arrangements have been contributed by Jimmy Heath, Dennis Mackrel and  two-time, Grammy Award-winning arranger, Slide Hampton.

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band features four winners of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Award: James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton and Paquito D'Rivera. The NEA award is the highest honor accorded to jazz musicians in the United States.

Tour periods All Stars & Symphony Sessions 2009: spring/summer. Exclusive territory: Europe*. Travelling party:  6-7
Tour periods Big Band 2009: summer/winter. Exclusive territory: Europe*. Travelling party: +/- 20