Dynamo A - Tempo Jazz Men - 1946

Dynamo A
Bebop

Tempo Jazz Men
Instrumental
Writer: Dizzy Gillespie

Instrumentation: Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Vibraphon, Piano, Bass, and Drums
Dizzy Gillespie alias "Gabriel" (Trumpet)
Lucky Thompson (Tenor Saxophone)
Milt Jackson (Vibraphon)
Al Haig (Piano)
Ray Brown (Bass)
Stan Levey (Drums)

Catalog Number: Dial 1001 A
Matrix Number: Dial 1003A (Master, 10", 78 RPM)
Place and Take Date: Electro Broadcast Studios, Glendale CA, 1946-02-07
Reverse side: Dynamo B

“Dynamo A” – The Tempo Jazz Men with Dizzy Gillespie as “Gabriel”, the heavenly trumpeter
When the Tempo Jazz Men entered the studio on February 7, 1946, in Glendale near Los Angeles, they produced with “Dynamo A” one of the defining recordings of the early bebop era. The session, released on Dial 1001, brought together an all-star lineup: Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Al Haig (piano), Ray Brown (bass), and Stan Levey (drums).
What is particularly remarkable is that Dizzy Gillespie did not appear on the label under his own name, but as “Gabriel.” The reason was his ongoing contract with Musicraft Records, which in fact did not allow him to record for Dial. To avoid legal conflicts, the label simply disguised its star trumpeter – and chose a name full of symbolic meaning: “Gabriel,” in reference to the biblical archangel traditionally depicted with a trumpet.
This gave the recording an additional mythical dimension: Gillespie, already one of the driving “angels” of bebop, appears here in a quasi-heavenly guise – the herald of a new musical message. “Dynamo A” thus became a sonic manifesto, embodying not only technical brilliance but also the bold departure into a new jazz aesthetic.

A big thank you once again to DALL·E for generating the image.