Dizzy Reece

Alphonso Son “Dizzy” Reece is a hard bop jazz trumpeter with a distinctive sound and compositional style.

Reece was born January 5, 1931 in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of a silent film pianist. He attended the Alpha Boys School (famed in Jamaica for its musical alumni), switching from baritone to trumpet at 14. A full-time musician from age 16, he moved to London in 1948 and spent the 1950s working in Europe, much of that time in Paris. He played with Don Byas, Kenny Clarke, Frank Foster and Thad Jones, among others. Winning praise from the likes of Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, he emigrated to New York City in 1959, but found New York in the 1960s a struggle. Too little heard-from in the intervening years, he had a reissue on Mosaic in 2004 that gave fans hope of a comeback.