Alphonso Son "Dizzy" Reece (born 5 January 1931) is a Jamaican-born hard bop jazz trumpeter.
Reece was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of a silent film pianist. Hearing parade brass bands at an early age, the sound of the trumpet captured his soul. Eventually records by Basie with Buck Clayton and Don Byas drew him to jazz. He attended the Alpha Boys School (known for its musical alumni), he studied baritone horn from the age of 11 and trumpet from the age of 14. Among his classmates were Joe Harroitt and Wilton “Bogey” Gaynair. After working in Jamaica with Jack Brown’s swing band in 1947. The desire to play jazz and the growth of the new music known as be-bop drew him to a larger playing field, Europe. In 1948, he moved to London, then to Paris, where he played with Jay Cameron and Don Byas.
Dizzy's association with Blue Note faded after 1960. In 1962, he made Asia Minor for Prestige, re-recording Achmet and The Story Of Love. Lack of steady work in New York made him a transoceanic commuter by necessity. In 1968, Reece was a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s Reunion Big Band, which toured Europe and made an album for MPS. 1969 was a particularly active year for recording, he was on Dexter Gordon's A Day In Copenhagen, also for MPS, in March, Hank Mobley's The Flip, done in Paris, in July and on the recently-released Andrew Hill nonet date Passing Ships at Van Gelder's studio in November. The Mobley and Hill dates were his last appearances on Blue Note.
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| Reece with Dexter Gordon |
Reece considers his performances whether in clubs, concerts or otherwise, to be a theatrical effort. For him, life is one big theatre, and therefore his music cannot be divorced from life. "Music is my life" he asserts. In addition to his brilliance as a trumpeter, Reece has functioned as a journalist, prose writer, poet, having written (published articles); abstractions, poems, short stories, screenplays (unpublished). Educational publications includes Contemporary Jazz Drum Suite (1966), Basic Jazz Bass Rhythm And Blues; Swinging the Scales and other method books. (1997); Encyclopedia of Black Brass/Black Reeds-- 1860-1999. His paintings have been exhibited with his music.
Despite his considerable talents as a player and composer, Reece has only made four albums as a leader since the sixties: From In To Out with John Gilmore for Futura in Paris in 1970, Possession, Exorcism, Peace for Honey Dew in the early '70s, Manhattan Project for Bee Hive in 1978 and Blowin' Away with Ted Curson for Interplay in the same year. He was also featured on Clifford Jordan’s Inward Fire on Muse in 1978. In 1991, he toured and recorded with Jordan’s big band. But for much of the last 60 years, Mr. Reece has essentially led a non-public life.
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He did however make his re-emergence at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York on 5th January 2007 where he announced the release of “Nirvana,” an album recorded in 1968. It was also his 76th birthday, another cause for celebration. Given the rigors of his instrument and the challenges of the music, no one should of expected Mr. Reece to be battle-ready after so many years off the scene, but at the end of the concert the audience gave him a generous round of applause.
But for the most part, Reece’s career has been so far under the radar that many people, tuned-in critics and musicians alike, think he has died. Ironically, Reece looks extremely healthy and vital-and he’s ready to be heard again. “A lot of people say, ‘Reece, if I were you I would have killed a lot of people already!'” he laughs. “But that’s fate, and I don’t blame anybody. I’ve put in a lot of years and thousands of hours playing, but things come in their own time. My stuff is at another level now; maybe I’ll get the chance to prove it. I just need an audience.”
(Edited from the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Jazz Profiles, Henry Bebop, Jazz Times, New York Times & Wikipedia)
One great document of the period though is the film, For Klook: The Story of the Paris Reunion Band. It captures the mid-eighties exploits of a band recalling the great Paris jazz scene of the sixties, while continuing their own relationship as musicians and to the music that had taken hold at least thirty years earlier. Reece can seen here soloing on various tracks.