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Along with Charlie Parker, composer and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie is credited with founding the “Bebop” era and for introducing Afro-Cuban elements into modern jazz. One of his many compositions from the 1950s that became a jazz standard is “Manteca.” 

Gillespie was known for his inventive improvisation, comic wit, bent trumpet, and cheeks that swelled from his eyes to his collarbone while blowing his horn. With at least two of those characteristics in common, it’s fitting that Phish has made “Manteca” the most prominent – albeit rarely played – of the several jazz standards in its repertoire. 

Watch Manteca on YouTube Dizzy Gillespie, "Manteca"

Excellent live examples include 11/4/90 Fort Collins, CO (into “Caravan”), 4/18/92 Palo Alto, CA (squirt gun break), 5/3/93 New Brunswick, NJ (in a great “Tweezer” that also includes an “I Feel The Earth Move” jam), 10/28/94 Charleston, SC (in “David Bowie”), 11/14/95 Orlando (in an epic “Stash”), and 10/30/98 Las Vegas (providing a bridge between “Stash” and “Tweezer”). After a 301 show absence, the band finally brought "Manteca" back on 12/31/10 in the middle of the second set closing "YEM," perhaps as a result of the sign that hung from the 400 level of MSG both that night and the previous night. 

The nonsense lyrics ("crab in my shoemouth") are unique to the Phish version and have even made a few appearances outside "Manteca," including in the 7/26/91 "YEM" vocal jam and, perhaps most notably, in the outstanding 10/19/10 Augusta "Reba" encore, which stopped just short of segueing into "Manteca" proper.

“Manteca” is also included on A Picture of Nectar.