“Groovin’ High” | Stories of Standards

Tune in to First Take with Lando and Chavis – weekdays from 6-9 am MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long! 

Dizzy Gillespie took his sextet into the studio February 9, 1945, where they recorded two new compositions – “Groovin’ High”, loosely based on the 1920 song “Whispering”, and “Blue ‘N’ Boogie”. “Groovin’ High” was then modified for a Februay 28, 1945 session which became the basis for the song’s fame. Originally performed at a medium tempo, it has since been heard as swing, as be-bop, as fast tempo, as a vehicle for extended solos and as a medium for vocalese. Thomas Owens in “Bebop: The Music and Its Players” said that “Groovin’ High” was “the first famous bebop recording”.

John Birks Gillespie was born in 1917 in South Carolina, the youngest of nine children. His father, a bricklayer and amateur bandleader who died in 1927, was his first music teacher, but Dizzy was self-taught on a number of instruments, learning piano, trumpet and trombone. While his boisterous sense of humor and pranks irritated some of his fellow musicians, it led to his nickname and contributed to a number of lifelong friendships. His famously bent trumpet originally was the result of a fellow musician’s fall, but resulted in a sound which he liked well enough to have later trumpets custom-made with the bent bell. Widely regarded as one of the two best trumpet players ever, Gillespie’s skills in composition and performance inspired awe and deep admiration, while he led many young players to greatness.

The inclusiveness of his musical vision, which opened jazz to a much stronger relationship with African and Caribbean musical patterns, can be seen as related to his roles as musical ambassador to the world, leader of the United Nations Orchestra (which he had created in 1988) and jazz ambassador of Baha’i. Following his death from pancreatic cancer in 1993, two funerals were held, a Baha’i ceremony for friends and family and another for the throngs of admirers. A great man and a great musician, Dizzy Gillespie’s songs and influence live on.