DIZZY GILLESPIE
Name: John Birks Gillespie
Born: October 21, 1917 Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.
Died: January 6, 1993 Englewood, NJ
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an
American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw,
South Carolina, the youngest of nine children. Dizzie's father was a local
bandleader, so instruments were made available to Dizzy. He could play the piano
at age 4. Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development
of bebop and modern jazz.
In addition to featuring in these epochal moments in bebop, he was instrumental
in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of what early-jazz pioneer
Jelly Roll Morton referred to as the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet
virtuoso and gifted improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge
but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz. In addition
to his instrumental skills, Dizzy's beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat
singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were
essential in popularizing bebop, which was originally regarded as threatening
and frightening music by many listeners raised on older styles of jazz. He had
an enormous impact on virtually every subsequent trumpeter, both by the example
of his playing and as a mentor to younger musicians.
He also used a trumpet whose bell was bent at a 45 degree angle rather than a
traditional straight trumpet. According to Gillespie's autobiography, this was
originally the result of accidental damage caused during a job on January 6,
1953, but the constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the
instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. Gillespie's biographer Alyn Shipton
writes that Gillespie likely got the idea when he saw a similar instrument in
1937 in Manchester, England while on tour with the Teddy Hill Orchestra.
Gillespie came across an English trumpeter who was using such an instrument
because his vision was poor and the horn made reading music easier. According to
this account (from British journalist Pat Brand) Gillespie was able to try out
the horn and the experience led him, much later, to commission a similar horn
for himself. Whatever the origins of Gillespie's upswept trumpet, by June, 1954,
Gillespie was using a professionally manufactured horn of this design, and it
was to become a visual trademark for him for the rest of his life.
Name: John Birks Gillespie
Born: October 21, 1917 Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.
Died: January 6, 1993 Englewood, NJ
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an
American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw,
South Carolina, the youngest of nine children. Dizzie's father was a local
bandleader, so instruments were made available to Dizzy. He could play the piano
at age 4. Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development
of bebop and modern jazz.
In addition to featuring in these epochal moments in bebop, he was instrumental
in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of what early-jazz pioneer
Jelly Roll Morton referred to as the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet
virtuoso and gifted improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge
but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz. In addition
to his instrumental skills, Dizzy's beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat
singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were
essential in popularizing bebop, which was originally regarded as threatening
and frightening music by many listeners raised on older styles of jazz. He had
an enormous impact on virtually every subsequent trumpeter, both by the example
of his playing and as a mentor to younger musicians.
He also used a trumpet whose bell was bent at a 45 degree angle rather than a
traditional straight trumpet. According to Gillespie's autobiography, this was
originally the result of accidental damage caused during a job on January 6,
1953, but the constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the
instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. Gillespie's biographer Alyn Shipton
writes that Gillespie likely got the idea when he saw a similar instrument in
1937 in Manchester, England while on tour with the Teddy Hill Orchestra.
Gillespie came across an English trumpeter who was using such an instrument
because his vision was poor and the horn made reading music easier. According to
this account (from British journalist Pat Brand) Gillespie was able to try out
the horn and the experience led him, much later, to commission a similar horn
for himself. Whatever the origins of Gillespie's upswept trumpet, by June, 1954,
Gillespie was using a professionally manufactured horn of this design, and it
was to become a visual trademark for him for the rest of his life.