Groovin High recaptures the glory of Savoy original 78's cut at the height of bebop's original creative sway in 1945-46. While technology limited recordings to just over three minutes and offered little in the way of what we now know as hi-fi, every delicious note from such sidemen as Charlie Parker, Milt Jackson, Cozy Cole and Sonny Stitt resonates on this disc. Many of the players here never found the fame of those big names but are noteable virtuosos (witness Chuck Wayne's bubbling guitar on the opening track, "Blue 'n' Boogie", composed by the equally underrated pianist, Frank Paparelli).

Aside from the above-mentioned tracks and "Ray's Idea", co-composed by Ray Brown (at bass on half the tunes) and "Salt Peanuts", Gillespie is credited as composer or co-composer. His title tune illustrates one of the basic conditions of the birth of bop: musicians who had to earn their bread-and-butter playing dances and social occasions with big bands would take the chord changes of the pop songs they had to play on those dates and reclothe them in kinky melodic lines, hung over pyrotechnic syncopations. In this case, "How High the Moon" became "Groovin' High".

"Dizzy Atmosphere" epitomizes Gillespie's cool yet raw trumpet blasts and reconstructed bits of big band swing that forged the be bop cannon. "Things to Come" is a particularly exciting serving of spirited solos and slick tight big band section work jammed at an amphetamine rate into a small vinyl package. "Rays Idea" and "Our Delight", by Gillespie and the legendary Todd Dameron, are compelling evidence of the evolution of '30s and '40s big bands into bop vehicles.

In another mood, Gillespie's "Oop Bop Sh' Bam", like "Salt Peanuts", are infectiously funny and may get you singing along with Dizzy and crew. The leader's galactic glissandi and lightning-fast lines flowed brilliantly from his bent trumpet in those days (catch them on "Blue 'n' Boogie") and his artful and technically perfect phrasing are memorable on Dameron's "Hot House". Listen to that latter track and to "All the Things You Are" for Gillespie's seamless unisons and trades with his altoist friend Charlie "Bird" Parker. The song "Groovin' High" later popped up in Steely Dan's glib snapshot of the era, "Parker's Band."

Groovin' High is a great addition to any collection which looks to the 40's as a series of exciting moments when jazz experienced a renaissance on the atomic level, rearranging the melodies bit by bopping bit.