George Handy
Piano Solo on
Diggin' Diz

About

George Handy's second piano solo is the sixth and final improvisation on this recording, bringing the extensive solo section full circle. Taking one chorus of the 16-bar form in C at 201 BPM, Handy returns to close the improvisatory proceedings on his own composition, a contrafact based on the chord changes of "Lover." His bookending piano solos frame the contributions of Parker, Gillespie, Thompson, and Garrison with a structural symmetry that reflects his compositional sensibility.

George Handy was 25 to 26 years old at the time.