THE society's technical guru Mr Peter Hardman has recently delivered two recitals on contrasting jazzmen. Paul Desmond, a founding member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and composer of Take Five, played cool-toned alto sax in a delightfully subtle way.

Completely different was the extrovert Dizzy Gillespie, who, along with Charlie Parker, was one of the founding fathers of bebop in the 1940s. Whereas Desmond played mostly small group jazz, Dizzy was just as comfortable roaring away with a big band or blowing in an intimate outfit.

One thing both men had in common was a well developed sense of humour. Desmond's was laid-back and witty; he changed his original surname Breitenfeld because he said, "It sounded too Irish". Gillespie's humour was much more upfront and laugh-out-loud fun and he loved clowning about on stage.

For his Paul Desmond programme Peter concentrated on his work away from the Brubeck Quartet. Jazzabelle and Everything Happens to Me saw him playing along with mellophone specialist Don Elliott. Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert duetted well with Desmond on the easy paced Squeeze Me, but the outstanding tracks with a guitarist were those that he made with Jim Hall. There was a great affinity between the two men and this shone through on their recordings.

On Fall Out he teamed up with Gerry Mulligan, also famous for being a member of a piano-less quartet, and they swung really hard compared with Paul's more lyrical work with Brubeck. John Lewis's piano was well to the fore when Desmond linked up with the Modern Jazz Quartet for a concert at the New York Town Hall in 1971 from which Peter played Rainy Day and Bag's New Groove. The poignant You Can't Go Home Again, made in the company of Chet Baker, was Paul's last recording before his premature death in May 1977.

For the exuberant Gillespie Peter concentrated on two concerts that Dizzy gave at the Salle Pleyel in Paris in 1948 and1953.

Peter's sampling of Dizzy's work in Paris gave us the chance to hear the great man at his best both musically and humorously. His ability to play at lightning speed with power was shown by his solo on The Champ on which he also took a lengthy vocal along with Joe Carroll. Singer Carroll pops up constantly on the 1953 concert often in unison with Dizzy as they murder the lyrics and thoroughly enjoy themselves on stage with such numbers as School Days and Lady Be Good, where Dizzy says, If you can't be good Be-Bop! On Oo-Shoo-Be-Doo-Bee baritone saxist Bill Graham joins Dizzy and Joe for an hilarious vocal before Dizzy takes off on a wonderful trumpet solo; the trio get together again on a swinging Sunny Side Of The Street.

Dizzy's sense of fun is also well to the front on the rugby fans' favourite Swing Low Sweet Chariot where, after his own interpretation of the lyrics, he swings into a horn solo backed by direct drumming from Al Jones. Sarah Vaughan was unexpectedly pulled out of the audience to a great ovation for her rendition of Embraceable You.

Dizzy's trumpet playing and use of dynamics are absolutely dazzling on They Can't Take That Away and I Can't Get Started; while on the 1948 version of Round Midnight he takes off in an outstanding way. On two studio recordings, Fine and Dandy and I've Got You Under My Skin, against lush strings settings arranged by Michel Legrand, Dizzy ups the tempo and sails away into the stratosphere.

Peter concluded his most enjoyable look at Dizzy's French concerts with the 1948 Things To Come where Dizzy soloed at breakneck speed against a shrieking ensemble.