''Big Top'' is the second album by American jazz drummer

Whit Dickey Whit Dickey (born May 28, 1954) is an American drummer. He has recorded albums with David S. Ware and Matthew Shipp. Biography His first album as a leader was ''Transonic Transonic (or transsonic) flow is air flowing around an object at ...

, which was recorded in 1999 and released on Wobbly Rail, a short-lived imprint started by

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...

Superchunk Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the ...

principal

Mac McCaughan Ralph Lee "Mac" McCaughan (; born July 12, 1967) is an American musician and record label owner, based in North Carolina. His main musical projects have been Superchunk since 1989 and Portastatic since the early 1990s. In 1989 he founded the ind ...

.Whit Dickey
at AUM Fidelity For this record, Dickey expanded to a quartet consisting of the trio with whom he recorded ''

Transonic Transonic (or transsonic) flow is air flowing around an object at a speed that generates regions of both subsonic and supersonic airflow around that object. The exact range of speeds depends on the object's critical Mach number, but transonic ...

'', with the addition of guitarist Joe Morris. They played

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gai ...

composition "The Prophet", from the album ''

At the Five Spot ''Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot'', Vols. 1 and 2, is a pair of jazz albums documenting one night (16 July 1961) from the end of Eric Dolphy and Booker Little's two-week residency at the Five Spot in New York. This was the only night to be recorded. ...

'', and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

's "Skippy".Original Liner Notes by Whit Dickey

Reception

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' notes that "the leader can sound hyperactive and unreflective, but there is no mistaking the power of his playing." The ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

'' review by Peter Margasak states "With Brown's alto saxophone imbued with melancholia, his upper register peregrinations full of piercing sobs, and Morris peeling off skeins of tunefully cascading notes, the rhythm section caresses and prods things along with constant shape-shifting; in particular, Dickey's gentle cymbal play is a marvel of coloristic and rhythmic variety."''Big Top'' review by Peter Margasak
at ''

Track listing

:''All compositions by Whit Dickey except as indicated'' # "Big Top" – 7:58 # "The Prophet" (

) – 11:22 # "Skippy" (

) – 9:53 # "The Inmortals" – 23:20

Personnel

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Joe Morris -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Chris Lightcap Chris Lightcap is an American double bassist, bass guitarist and composer born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Career In addition to his work as a bassist he has led a variety of bands since 2000 and has produced six albums of original music. Lightcap' ...

– bass * Rob Brown –

alto sax The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

References

{{Authority control 2000 albums Whit Dickey albums