MARK ARMSTRONG is in the unenviable position of being saddled with the lip-breakng task of impersonating Dizzy himself ! Since leaving the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, in which he covered both the lead and jazz chairs, Mark has played with Clark Tracey's new quintet and the Ray Gelato Giants, as well as continuing to write music for and rehearse NYJO. As well as contributing to the band's book Mark has studied Dizzy's improvisational style in great depth for this project, and has unlocked many technical and harmonic secrets.

CLARK TRACY is one of the established giants of the UK jazz scene, not only as a drummer, but as a bandleader and composer. Clark is a master musician whose instrument happens to be the drums, although he hes 6een known to do a great impersonation of Duke Ellington at the piano in idle moments Often the first call drummer for visiting U.S. musicians, Clark is also a great enthusiast for the history of jazz, and in this setting he can be heard on his period drum kit indulging his passion for the early work of Blakey, Clarke and Roach.

JIM RICHARDSON is the closest thing you will hear to Ray Brown. In a long, long career, Jim has worked with an incredible variety of artists including Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker, Georgie Fame, Barney Kessell and of course Ruby Murray. Under that genial exterior, Jim is a constantly enquiring musician, and practises his bass between three and four hours per day. When the band goes into "One Bass Hit" and "Bopmatism", Jim's great weight of experience and assured technical command will speak for themselves.

PETER LONG is responsible for getting this whole thing together. Following on from his repertory experience with the award-winning Echoes Of Ellington, which illustrated with narrative and playing how Duke Ellington's music fifted together, Pete has applied these principles to presenting the music of one of the key Small Bands in the history of jazz. He's had to go back to a collegiate level practice regime to try and get close to the Charlie Parker style, and as part of this Pete plays the gig on Charlie Parker's exact set-up - a 1947 Conn Underslung alto with a white Brilhart 3 mouthpiece.

MARTIN LITTON is a pianist who has been more associated with the earliest forms of jazz, and his many fans may be supnsed to see him here! An incredibly facile pianist, Martin has worked with such luminaries as Peanuts Hucko, Scoft Hamilton and Kenny Ball. A world authority on the work of Jelly Roll Morton, Martin has also made detailed studies of the styles of, to name a few, Earl Hines, Teddy Wison, Art Tatum, Dodo Marmorosa and Bud Powell, and thus is the only serious choice when it comes to the thorny subject of the music of the 'Transition'.

The music played in our recital attempts to give a flavour of the mottled background from which bebop in its pure form finally arose. Thus, you will hear Dizzy's angular arrangements of old jazz standards alongside the best of the early bop compositions. Below are notes on some of the pieces;

THE HEADLESS THING AT THE BEGINNING - is in fact Sweet Georgia Brown. There are many recordings of Dizzy using this harmonic sequence as a jam session favourite dating from this period, and we feel that it perfectly illustrates the flavour of the transition from swing to bop. It also wakes everybody up!

GET HAPPY - dates from a Red Norvo session of January 1945 in which Diz and Charlie Parker were teamed up with Flip Phillips and what was virtually the rhythm section from the Benny Goodman Quintet. Much of the fun here is hearing the front line soloists playing cool bop over a hot swing background

GROOVIN' HIGH - Dizzy's ingenious re-working of the old jazz standard Whispenng" demonstrates his prowess as an arranger. With its interludes, key changes and big showbiz coda, he shows us that even a quintet performance can be hugely enhanced by applying the compositional techniques usually reserved for the big band.

SALT PEANUTS - More massive musical architecture here. The quintessential bop anthem, replete with angular lines, furious unison release passages, huge springboard sections into the solos and of course Mark's unique bebop vocalese, all delivered at the highest tempo. A fitting end to the evening.