Lady Be Good

AMG Review of Lady Be Good

Adam Greenberg
All Music Guide

Lady Be Good is actually a discount album, released posthumously. In all truth, the years of the recordings, as well as the performers other than Gillespie, are left to the listener's imagination. Whoever the performers might be and whenever the recordings may have been made, the sound is still undeniably Gillespie. Some of the albums conceived and produced by Gillespie himself are better choices for any fan of either Gillespie or bop in general, but this one is good nonetheless. The album is packed with a couple of the famous Afro-Cuban pieces, "Tin Tin Deo" and "Manteca"; a pair of Gershwin pieces, "Lady Be Good" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me"; Vernon Duke's "I Can't Get Started"; and, of course, Dizzy's own "Night in Tunisia." The songs are all quite good, though perhaps not of the top quality you'd get on one of the albums released intentionally by Gillespie. Still a good buy at the discount level, though, so pick it up if you can find it.