Dizzy Reece


Alphonso Son "Dizzy" Reece is a Jamaican-born hard bop jazz trumpeter. Reece is among a group of jazz musicians born in Jamaica which includes Bertie King, Joe Harriott, Roland Alphonso, Wilton Gaynair, Sonny Bradshaw and Tommy McCook, trombonist Don Drummond, pianist Monty Alexander, bassist Coleridge Goode, guitarist Ernest Ranglin and percussionists Count Ossie and Lloyd Knibb.

Biography

Reece was born on 5 January 1931 in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of a silent film pianist. He attended the Alpha Boys School, switching from baritone saxophone to trumpet when he was 14 years old. A full-time musician from the age of 16, he moved to London in 1948 and spent the 1950s working in Europe, much of that time in Paris. He played with Don Byas, Kenny Clarke, Frank Foster and Thad Jones, among others. Recording with British musicians, he led several sessions in London in 1955-1957. Also in London, he recorded what became his first Blue Note album, Blues in Trinity. Donald Byrd and Art Taylor were his sidemen. Gaining praise from Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, the trumpeter settled in New York City in 1959 and recorded with several of Davis' bandmates, but found New York in the 1960s a struggle.
Reece recorded other records for the Blue Note label, which were reissued by Mosaic in 2004. Still active as a musician and writer, Reece has recorded over the years with Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Ronnie Scott, Phil Seaman, Victor Feldman, Tubby Hayes, Paris Reunion Band, Clifford Jordan’s Big Band, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, fellow trumpeter Ted Curson, pianist Duke Jordan, long-time Sun Ra alumni saxophonist John Gilmore, and drummers Philly Joe Jones and Art Taylor.
Reece wrote the music for the 1958 Ealing Studios film, Nowhere to Go.

Discography

As leader

;Blue Note
;Others
With Victor Feldman
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Dexter Gordon
With Andrew Hill
With Philly Joe Jones
With Clifford Jordan
With Duke Jordan
With Hank Mobley