Dizzy Gillespie would have been in his 91st year now. James Moody isn't all that far behind - he's 83, though you'd never guess - and as a former Gillespie sideman, not to mention his abilities as both musician and clown, the tenor saxophonist is ideally placed to carry on the Gillespie legacy.

Star rating ****
Dizzy Gillespie would have been in his 91st year now. James Moody isn't all that far behind - he's 83, though you'd never guess - and as a former Gillespie sideman, not to mention his abilities as both musician and clown, the tenor saxophonist is ideally placed to carry on the Gillespie legacy. Moody actually deferred in anecdotal matters to his front-line partner and fellow Dizzy alumnus, trombonist Slide Hampton, for much of the time in this tribute, with Greg Gisbert taking on, with considerable aplomb, the unenviable task of filling Dizzy's trumpeting shoes. But, then, it was always going to take more than one musician to capture the essence of Gillespie, one of jazz's chief architects.

In the event, the six all-stars combined to make the experience just right. Any bebop tempos were smart rather than breathtaking. The accent was on rounded creativity rather than showboating, and Hampton, for a man who suffered a stroke four weeks ago, played with terrific heart, his solo on Eternal Triangle taken at an understandably measured pace but still highlighting his innate melodic qualities.

There were fine individual touches all round, including John Lee's faithfully-shaped bass guitar lines, drummer Vince Ector's cunningly executed cymbal "shower" and Moody updating his Mood for Love to a rap and hip-hop dance routine. But what came across most was a sense that, collectively, they cared deeply for the music, from the prankish invention of Salt Peanuts through the bluesy solemnity of Round Midnight - an uncredited Gillespie co-write - to his fellow pioneer Charlie Parker's Confirmation, which Gillespie nurtured to a place in jazz history alongside his own.