In addition to being a supreme musician of the first order, Dizzy was also a first class composer. My favorite Dizzy composition is "Night in Tunisia." The ultimate "sittin in" tune, I defy any breathing human to sit still when this tune is properly played. It is literally against the law in several countries to call yourself a jazz musician and not be well versed in this tune. Should you not be able to play this tune when it is called, band members are lawfully authorized to drag you to the alley out back and kick your ass until you promise to be a better musician.
One of the reasons I always liked Johnny Carson is because he seemed to always have situational awareness. Clearly, he knew that this was no longer the Tonight Show band but that it had become the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra. Carson and Doc Sevrenson had the good sense to yield to Diz doing an impish little encore which sounds loosely based on Manteca, another classic Dizzy composition.
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