Dizzy Gillespie Biography

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He was an African-American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. In addition to featuring in these epochal moments in jazz, he was instrumental in founding Afro-Cuban jazz.

John Birks Gillespie was the youngest of nine children, and he taught himself to play the trumpet at the age of 12. Despite the poverty he grew up in, he managed to win a scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. However, he soon dropped out of school, and became desperate to work as a full-time musician. Despite finding work with Cab Calloway's group, Dizzy was soon being excoriated for his adventurous solos by his employer, who branded it "Chinese music." He was fired as a result of Calloway's dissatisfaction with Gillespie's modern, unorthodox approach.
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The legendary big band of Billy Eckstine gave his unusual harmonies a better setting, and it was as a member of Eckstine's band that he was reunited with Parker, after earlier being members of Earl Hines more conventional band.

Gillespie's light hearted side was revealed most by his collaborations with the singer Joe Carrol. The recordings they made together were mostly silly songs, with humorous, and occasionally clever lyrics.

In addition to his work with Parker, Gillespie led small combos and big bands and appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. In the 40s, Gillespie was involved in the movement called Afro-Cuban music, bringing Latin and African elements to greater prominence in jazz and even pop music, particularly salsa.

Gillespie wrote a number of jazz standards, among them "Manteca", "A Night in Tunisia", "Groovin' High", "Salt Peanuts" and "Con Alma", all of which are now jazz classics.

Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser. In addition to his instrumental skills, Dizzy's beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn and pouched cheeks, and his light-hearted personality endeared many to what was regarded as threatening and frightening music. In his playing, Gillespie built on the "saxophonic" style of Roy Eldridge, and the harmonic complexity of Charlie Parker and then went far beyond it. Unlike his great contemporary "Bird", Dizzy made a point of enthusiastically teaching future generations (such as Miles Davis at the time) the convolutions of bop. His memorable trademarks were distending his cheeks while playing (unlike most trumpet players who are trained not to do this - "Gillespie's pouch" is purportedly a term used by the medical community for cheek distention), and a trumpet whose bell was bent at a 45 degree angle rather than a traditional straight trumpet. This was originally the result of accidental damage, but the constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect.

Gillespie published his autobiography, To Be or not to Bop in 1979, ISBN 0306802368.

Dizzy Gillespie was one of the most famous adherents of the Bahá'í Faith to the point that he is often called the Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador. He is honored with weekly jazz sessions at the New York Bahá'í Center.

He died of cancer in early 1993 and is buried in the Flushing Cemetery in Queens, New York.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard.

DIZZY GILLESPIE PICTURES

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DIZZY GILLESPIE BIOGRAPHY