For reasons I don't even pretend to understand (aka Random Spotify Recommendation), I've become "interested" in Dizzy's Paris recordings from 1952 & 1953.
I've got a copy of the complete 1953 Salle Pleyel concert on the way and am looking for an inexpensive copy of the Blue Star recordings.
The Salle Pleyel gig is something I knew from it being parted out on Roulette in the 70s, but hearing it complete is a trip. That group was leaning in to backbeat (implied and literal) music in a way that anticipates the Messengers by a few years! The drummer Al Jones is bringing it! And Wade Legge!
This one above is pretty nice. Material varies, as do arrangements, but Dizzy himself is just dandy, always. There's some good Don Byas as well. They seem to have all been 78s, so things are concise, and that highlights the exquisite expertise on display at every turn.
AFAIK, the early 1950s are generally characterized as "Dizzy lost his big band and formed a night club combo with an emphasis on novelty tunes". Well, maybe so. But in Paris, anyway, it's not THAT simple. I think these records very neatly fill out the Dee Gee sides.
Good stuff!