A belated happy birthday (January 5) to trumpeter Alphonso Dizzy Reece! Reece went to Alpha from 1942-1945. By 1947, when he was 16, Reece was already a professional musician with Jack Brown’s Swing Stars. The rest, as they say, is on records by Blue Note, Tempo and Prestige. An ambassador of hard bop, Reece earned the respect of jazz's finest from Thelonius Monk to Miles Davis. Watch Reece at the New York City Jazz Festival he helped organize in 1978... Reece is "a guy who’s got soul and originality and, above all, who’s not afraid to blow with fire”. - Miles Davis |