Dee Gee Records

Last updated
Dee Gee Records
Parent company Savoy Records
Founded1951 (1951)
Founder Dizzy Gillespie
Dave Usher
Defunct1953 (1953)
StatusDefunct
Genre Jazz
Country of originU.S.
LocationDetroit, Michigan

Dee Gee Records was a jazz record company and independent record label founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1951 by Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Usher. [1]

Contents

History

Billboard relates that Dee Gee opened for business on April 7, 1951. [2] According to Gillespie, Dee Gee Records was the result of his desire to control his own recorded output. Dave Usher was a 21-year-old fan and friend of Gillespie. Dee Gee Records was based in Detroit where Usher lived, and its sessions were held there, in New York City, and in Chicago. Initial response was encouraging, and within a short time Dee Gee began to record artists other than Gillespie. But over time Usher found it difficult to handle the financial matters of the company, and in 1953 Dee Gee closed, with Gillespie returning to established firms to make his recordings. [3]

In 1956 the label and its catalog were acquired by Savoy Records, which has controlled it ever since. [4] Despite Dee Gee's failure, Gillespie and Usher remained lifelong friends; after a break from music, Usher became a producer with Argo Records [5] and ultimately the head of Marine Pollution Control, which specializes in cleaning up major industrial oil spills. [6]

Legacy

For Dee Gee, Dizzy Gillespie recorded the first commercially released versions of "Tin Tin Deo", "Birks' Works" and "The Champ". [7] Among others who recorded for Dee Gee were the Milt Jackson Quartet, a predecessor to the Modern Jazz Quartet, Jackie Wilson under the name "Sonny Wilson", drummers Shelly Manne and Kenny Clarke, jazz composer William Russo, jazz singer Annie Ross, and popular vocal group The Tattletales, featuring singer Jerri Adams. Among Gillespie's sidemen were John Coltrane, making some of his first recordings, and guitarist Kenny Burrell, who recorded his first solo on "Birk's Works". [8]

For Savoy, the Dee Gee output provided selections by Gillespie that remained in their catalog for decades, including the albums The Champ and Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions . Gillespie expressed regret at losing control of Dee Gee; running his own label offered a freedom from commercial constraints to experiment with a populist form of bebop, comedy, and elements of calypso, R&B, and other styles. In retrospect, Gillespie complained that some purists within bebop felt he had "sold out". [9]

Dizzy Gillespie's Dee Gee Records label is not to be confused with a 1960s Dee Gee Records (named after Doris Gilbert) based in Hollywood, [10] nor a 1980s Dee Gee Records based in Wooster, Ohio.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bebop</span> Subgenre of jazz music developed in the U.S. in mid-1940s

Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure, the use of scales and occasional references to the melody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dizzy Gillespie</span> American jazz trumpeter (1917–1993)

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality have made him an enduring icon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milt Jackson</span> American jazz vibraphonist (1923–1999)

Milton Jackson, nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with hard bop and post-bop players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cool jazz</span> Sub-genre of jazz associated with the U.S. West Coast

Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music inspired by bebop and big band that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and a lighter tone than that used in the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements and incorporates elements of classical music. Broadly, the genre refers to a number of post-war jazz styles employing a more subdued approach than that of contemporaneous jazz idioms. As Paul Tanner, Maurice Gerow, and David Megill suggest, "the tonal sonorities of these conservative players could be compared to pastel colors, while the solos of [Dizzy] Gillespie and his followers could be compared to fiery red colors."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fats Navarro</span> American jazz trumpeter (1923–1950)

Theodore "Fats" Navarro was an American jazz trumpet player and a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. A native of Key West, Florida, he toured with big bands before achieving fame as a bebop trumpeter in New York. Following a series of studio sessions with leading bebop figures including Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Kenny Clarke, he became ill with tuberculosis and died at the age of 26. Despite the short duration of his career, he had a strong stylistic influence on trumpet players who rose to fame in later decades, including Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky Thompson</span> American jazz saxophonist

Eli "Lucky" Thompson was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist whose playing combined elements of swing and bebop. Although John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence in the early 1960s, Thompson embraced the instrument earlier than Coltrane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenny Clarke</span> American jazz drummer (1914–1985)

Kenneth Clarke Spearman, known professionally as Kenny Clarke and nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-hat, along with the use of the bass drum for irregular accents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percy Heath</span> American jazz bassist (1923–2005)

Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Haig</span> American jazz pianist

Alan Warren Haig was an American jazz pianist, best known as one of the pioneers of bebop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Wallington</span> American jazz pianist and composer

George Wallington was an American jazz pianist and composer. Born in Sicily, his career as a pianist began in the early 1940s, when he played with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and contributed to the development of bebop. Following several years as a sideman during the late 1940s, he formed his own group, experimenting with trios and a string ensemble before settling upon a permanent quintet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuff Smith</span> American jazz violinist

Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith, better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song "If You're a Viper".

Joe "Bebop" Carroll was an American jazz vocalist who worked with Dizzy Gillespie between 1949 and 1953. His collaborations with Gillespie include the humorous songs "Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac" and "Oo Bla Dee."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budd Johnson</span> American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist (1910–1984)

Albert J. "Budd" Johnson III was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who worked extensively with, among others, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Billie Holiday and, especially, Earl Hines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Parker discography</span>

This is a list of recordings by American jazz alto saxophonist Charlie Parker ("Bird"). Parker primarily recorded for three labels: Savoy, Dial, and Verve. His work with these labels has been chronicled in box sets. Charlie Parker's Savoy and Dial Sessions have been issued on The Complete Savoy Sessions, Charlie Parker on Dial and Complete Charlie Parker on Dial and The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes. His Verve recordings are available on Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve and The Complete Verve Master Takes.

Matthew Gee was an American bebop trombonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Henry</span> American jazz saxophonist (1926–1957)

Ernie Henry was an American jazz saxophonist.

<i>The Modern Jazz Sextet</i> 1956 studio album by multiple artists

The Modern Jazz Sextet is a jazz album featuring the combined talents of Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, John Lewis, Percy Heath, Skeeter Best and Charlie Persip. The album was conceived by producer Norman Granz for his own label, Norgran Records. Although no single album artist is credited as a bandleader for this album, Verve Records - which owns the Norgran catalogue - files it as a Dizzy Gillespie album.

<i>Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions</i> 1976 compilation album by Dizzy Gillespie

Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions is a compilation album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie featuring performances recorded in 1951 and 1952 and originally released on Gillespie's own Dee Gee Records label. Many of the tracks were first released as 78 rpm records but were later released on albums including School Days (Regent) and The Champ (Savoy).

<i>The Curtis Fuller Jazztet</i> 1959 studio album by Curtis Fuller with Benny Golson

The Curtis Fuller Jazztet is an album by American trombonist Curtis Fuller with saxophonist Benny Golson, recorded in 1959 and released on the Savoy label.

References

  1. Kennedy, Gary (2002). Barry Kernfeld (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, vol. 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 590. ISBN   1561592846.
  2. "Gillespie Sets Up Dee Gee Disk Org", The Billboard, April 14, 1951, pg. 18
  3. Dizzy Gillespie, with Al Fraser, To Be, or Not...to Bop. New York, Doubleday 1979, p. 370
  4. Dee Gee Records Discography Both Sides Now Publications: Dee Gee Records Discography
  5. Nadine Cahodas, Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records. New York, St. Martin's Griffin, 2000
  6. Broadway World Review of Dave Usher's book "Music is Forever: Dizzy Gillespie, the Jazz Legend, and Me"
  7. Dizzy Gillespie Discography JazzDisco.org
  8. Lars Bjorn with Jim Gallert, Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-1960 Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 2001, p. 149.
  9. Dizzy Gillespie, with Al Fraser, To Be, or Not...to Bop. New York, Doubleday 1979, p. 371
  10. G45central.com forum on Los Angeles Dee Gee