Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker represented two sides of one heartbeat--the high priest and revealed prophet of bebop. Parker devised a new way of phrasing, based in some part on the rhythmic/melodic innovations of Lester Young, the harmonic grandeur of Art Tatum, and the elemental swing and blues of Kansas City jazz in the Basie mode. Dizzy was the most accomplished and visionary of the young Turks to pick up on Parker's message, while Thelonious Monk was a seminal figure in the early developmental stages of bebop, but he went on to create his own parallel stylistic stream of addition by subtraction. Bird & Diz is this creative trio's only studio recording together, and while drummer Buddy Rich and bassist Curly Russell impart more of a jump swing feel to the proceedings, they inspire Bird & Diz to Olympian heights on "Bloomdido" and "An Oscar for Treadwell" and turn "Leap Frog" into a virtuoso equestrian event--while Monk makes his presence felt more as a soloist and a canny accompanist/orchestrator on the bluesy "Mohawk" and the standard "My Melancholoy Baby". --Chip Stern