More than just the one tribute - the music of Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie, unquestionably one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, had line-ups of different size over his many successful decades.

He started out in big bands in the 1930s, while the bebop style with which he was closely associated first really came to public notice in the 1940s when he was leading a small band. But he wanted to broaden the sound and to take it out of small clubs. He therefore started to organise his own big bands in 1945.

The Gillespie Big Band in Mallorca, an eighteen-member band, is a tribute to one of the greats. It features musicians very well known on the island’s jazz scene and its conductor and arranger is a musician to whom this year’s festival in Sa Pobla has been paying its own tribute. Mainly known as a guitarist, Toni Miranda - as the town hall has said - provides a point of reference for all jazz lovers on the island, while his involvement with the festival over many years has put Sa Pobla on the cultural map.