The Modern Jazz Sextet

1956 studio album by multiple artists

Studio album by

Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, John Lewis, Percy Heath, Skeeter Best, Charlie Persip

Released

1956

Recorded

January 12, 1956 at Fine Sound Studios, NYC

Genre

Jazz

Length

42:26

Label

Norgran Records MGN 1076^[1]

Producer

Norman Granz

Dizzy Gillespie chronology

One Night in Washington
(1955)

The Modern Jazz Sextet
(1956)

World Statesman
(1956)

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.^[2] The album was conceived by producer Norman Granz for his own label, Norgran Records.^[3] 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.

Two of the album's rhythm section, Lewis and Heath, also feature in the 1952-founded Modern Jazz Quartet.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[4]

AllMusic gives the album four stars, stating that "it did not take too much insight to realize that putting trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and altoist Sonny Stitt together with a strong rhythm section would result in some explosive music. ...Bebop at its best."^[4]

Track listing

"Tour De Force" (Dizzy Gillespie) - 11:39
"Dizzy Meets Sonny" (Gillespie) - 7:59
"Ballad Medley: Old Folks/What's New?/How Deep is the Ocean?" (Dedette Lee Hill, Willard Robison/Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke/Irving Berlin) - 7:10
"Mean to Me" (Roy Turk, Fred E. Ahlert) - 6:30
"Blues for Bird" (Sonny Stitt, Gillespie) - 9:08

Credits

References

^ Thompson, Dave (December 11, 2018). Goldmine Record Album Price Guide. Penguin. ISBN 9781440248917 – via Google Books.
^ MCNALLY, OWEN. "THE MODERN JAZZ SEXTET - SONNY STITT & DIZZY GILLESPIE". courant.com.
^ Dizzy Gillespie discography accessed March 29, 2016
^ ^a ^b Yanow, Scott. The Modern Jazz Sextet – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved March 29, 2016.

Dizzy Gillespie

Studio albums

Bird and Diz (1952)
Afro (1954)
Diz and Getz (1955)
Dizzy and Strings (1954)
Roy and Diz (1954)
Jazz Recital (1956)
The Modern Jazz Sextet (1956)
World Statesman (1956)
Dizzy in Greece (1956)
For Musicians Only (1956)
Birks' Works (1957)
Dizzy Gillespie and Stuff Smith (1957)
Sittin' In (1957)
Duets (1957)
The Greatest Trumpet of Them All (1957)
Sonny Side Up (1959)
The Ebullient Mr. Gillespie (1959)
Have Trumpet, Will Excite! (1959)
A Portrait of Duke Ellington (1960)
Gillespiana (1960)
Perceptions (1961)
The New Continent (1962)
New Wave (1963)
Something Old, Something New (1963)
Dizzy Goes Hollywood (1964)
Jambo Caribe (1964)
I/We Had a Ball (1965)
Gil Fuller & the Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra featuring Dizzy Gillespie (1965)
The Melody Lingers On (1966)
It's My Way (1969)
Cornucopia (1969)
The Real Thing (1970)
Portrait of Jenny (1970)
Dizzy Gillespie's Big 4 (1974)
The Trumpet Kings Meet Joe Turner (1974)
Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie (1974)
Oscar Peterson and the Trumpet Kings – Jousts (1974)
The Bop Session (1975)
Jazz Maturity...Where It's Coming From (1975)
Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods (1975)
Bahiana (1975)
Carter, Gillespie Inc. (1976)
Dizzy's Party (1976)
Free Ride (1977)
The Gifted Ones (1977)
The Trumpet Summit Meets the Oscar Peterson Big 4 (1980)
The Alternate Blues (1980)
To a Finland Station (1983)
Closer to the Source (1984)
New Faces (1985)
Dizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods Quintet (1986)
Endlessly (1988)
Oop-Pop-A-Da (1988)

Live albums

Jazz at Massey Hall (1953)
Dizzy Gillespie at Newport (1957)
An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet (1961)
Carnegie Hall Concert (1961)
Dizzy on the French Riviera (1962)
Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris (1963)
Live at the Village Vanguard (1967)
Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac (1967)
The Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Big Band (1968)
Dizzy Gillespie and the Mitchell Ruff Duo in Concert (1971)
Giants (1971)
The Giants of Jazz (1971)
The Giant (1973)
The Source (1973)
The Dizzy Gillespie Big 7 (1975)
The Trumpet Kings at Montreux '75 (1975)
Dizzy Gillespie Jam (1977)
Digital at Montreux, 1980 (1980)
Musician, Composer, Raconteur (1981)
One Night in Washington (1983)
Live at the Royal Festival Hall (1989)
Max + Dizzy: Paris 1989 (1989)
Bird Songs: The Final Recordings (1992)
To Bird with Love (1992)
To Diz with Love (1992)

Compilation
albums

Modern Jazz Trumpets (1951)
Groovin' High (1955)
Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions (1976)
The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1995)
The Great Blue Star Sessions 1952–1953 (2004)
Dizzy Digs Paris (2006)

Soundtracks

The Cool World (1964)
The Winter in Lisbon (1990)

Compositions

"Anthropology"
"Birks' Works"
"Blue 'n' Boogie"
"Con Alma"
"Dizzy Atmosphere"
"Groovin' High"
"Manteca"
"A Night in Tunisia"
"Oop Bop Sh'Bam"
"Salt Peanuts"
"Woody 'n' You"

Books

To Be or Not to Bop (1979)

List of works
Bird (1988 film)

v t e Sonny Stitt
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release.
As leader or co-leader	Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J. J. Johnson (1949–50) Stitt's Bits (1950) Kaleidoscope (1950–52) Jazz at the Hi-Hat (1954) The Battle of Birdland (and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, 1954) Sonny Stitt Plays Arrangements from the Pen of Quincy Jones (1955) Sonny Stitt Plays (1955) New York Jazz (1956) For Musicians Only (with Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz, 1956) 37 Minutes and 48 Seconds with Sonny Stitt (c.1956/57) Only the Blues (1957) Personal Appearance (1957) Sonny Stitt with the New Yorkers (1957) Burnin' (1958) Sonny Stitt (1958) The Saxophones of Sonny Stitt (1958) A Little Bit of Stitt (1959) Saxophone Supremacy (1959) Sonny Stitt Blows the Blues (1959) Sonny Stitt Plays Jimmy Giuffre Arrangements (1959) Sonny Stitt Sits in with the Oscar Peterson Trio (1959) Sonny Side Up (with Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins, Verve, 1959) Sonny Stitt Swings the Most (1959) The Hard Swing (1959) The Sonny Side of Stitt (1959) Previously Unreleased Recordings (1960) Sonny Side Up (Roost, 1960) Stittsville (1960) Stitt in Orbit (1960–62) Sonny Stitt at the D. J. Lounge (1961) The Sensual Sound of Sonny Stitt (1961) Feelin's (1962) Low Flame (1962) Rearin' Back (1962) Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass (1962) Stitt Meets Brother Jack (with "Brother" Jack McDuff, 1962) Move on Over (1963) My Mother's Eyes (1963) Now! (1963) Primitivo Soul! (1963) Salt and Pepper (and Paul Gonsalves, 1963) Soul Shack (with "Brother" Jack McDuff, 1963) Stitt Goes Latin (1963) Stitt Plays Bird (1963) My Main Man (and Bennie Green, 1964) Shangri-La (with Don Patterson, 1964) Sax Expressions (1965) Sonny Stitt / Live at Ronnie Scott's (with Dick Morrissey, 1965) Soul People (with Booker Ervin and Don Patterson, 1964–69) Broadway Soul (1965) Inter-Action (and Zoot Sims, 1965) Night Crawler (with Don Patterson, 1965) Pow! (with Bennie Green, 1965) The Matadors Meet the Bull (1965) Deuces Wild (1966) I Keep Comin' Back! (1966) Soul in the Night (and Bunky Green, 1966) What's New!!! (1966) Parallel-a-Stitt (1967) Little Green Apples (1968) Soul Electricity! (1968) Come Hither (1969) Night Letter (1969) Black Vibrations (1971) Turn It On! (1971) 12! (1972) Constellation (1972) Goin' Down Slow (1972) Tune-Up! (1972) Mr. Bojangles (1973) The Champ (1973) Satan (1974) Blues for Duke (1975) Dumpy Mama (1975) Mellow (1975) My Buddy: Sonny Stitt Plays for Gene Ammons (1975) Forecast: Sonny & Red (with Red Holloway, 1976) I Remember Bird (1978) Stomp Off Let's Go (1976) Sonny Stitt with Strings: A Tribute to Duke Ellington (1977) In Style (1981) The Last Sessions (1982)
And Gene Ammons	All Star Sessions (1950–55) Dig Him! (1961) Boss Tenors (1961) Boss Tenors in Orbit! (1962) Soul Summit (with "Brother"Jack McDuff, 1962) You Talk That Talk! (1971) God Bless Jug and Sonny (1973) Left Bank Encores (1973) Together Again for the Last Time (1973)
With Dizzy Gillespie	The Modern Jazz Sextet (1956) Duets (1957) The Giants of Jazz (with Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Kai Winding, 1971) The Bop Session (1975)
With Don Patterson	Patterson's People (1964) Tune Up! (1964–69) The Boss Men (1965) Funk You! (1968) Brothers-4 (1969) Donny Brook (1969)
With others	A Jazz Message (with Art Blakey, 1963) In Walked Sonny (with Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, 1975) The Oscar Peterson Trio with Sonny Stitt, Roy Eldridge and Jo Jones at Newport (1957)