Musicians such as Joe Harriott, Harold McNair, Bogey Gaynair and, in this instance, Dizzy Reece injected the local scene with an added rhythmic ingredient when they journeyed from Jamaica to enlighten the often incestuous UK jazz community. In the case of Reece, Jazzwise’s erstwhile Tony Hall quickly recognised these qualities and did his utmost to promote this trumpet player’s career to where, following his sojourn at Tempo, he orchestrated Reece’s signing to Blue Note that commenced with Blues In Trinity. Following on from Acrobat’s definitive Tony Kinsey and Tubby Hayes multi-disc bonanzas, this five-CD set gathers up all the Tempo masters, three Blue Note sessions, one recorded for Prestige’s New Jazz subsidiary and a couple of extras. While at Tempo Reece wasn’t paired with too many horn players and of Sammy Walker, Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes, the latter was by far the ideal foil (check out both the Blues In Trinity album and the Nowhere To Go soundtrack).

While technically there are shades of Gillespie in his work (hence the Dizzy moniker) in truth the articulate Reece really didn’t sound like any other player of the time. This became even more apparent when working at Blue Note on Star Bright with Hank Mobley and Wynton Kelly and then having Walter Bishop Jr, making all the right moves on a quartet date Soundin’ Off which ranks alongside of a Victor Feldman encounter cut four years earlier for Tempo.

If ultimately his career didn’t quite meet up to expectations, this excellent document (complete with Simon Spillett’s perceptive notes), confirms that Dizzy Reece really didn’t have to prove his capabilities any further.