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Dizzy Gillespie

This article is about the jazz musician. For the Australian cricketer nicknamed "Dizzy", see Jason Gillespie.

Dizzy Gillespie
Gillespie, c. 1979
Gillespie, c. 1979
Background information
Birth nameJohn Birks Gillespie
Born(1917-10-21)October 21, 1917
Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedJanuary 6, 1993(1993-01-06) (aged 75)
Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • composer
Instruments
  • Trumpet
  • vocals
  • piano
Years active1935–1993
Labels
Spouse
Lorraine Willis
​
(m. 1940)​
ChildrenJeanie Bryson[1]

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (/ɡɪˈlɛspi/ gil-ESP-ee; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer.[2] He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge[3] but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality have made him an enduring icon.[2]

In the 1940s, Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz.[4] He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan,[5] Chuck Mangione,[6] and balladeer Johnny Hartman.[7]

He pioneered Afro-Cuban jazz and won several Grammy Awards.[8] Scott Yanow wrote: "Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up being similar to those of Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated [....] Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time".[9]

  1. ^ Dollar, Steve (September 9, 2010). "When His Music Stopped, Their Work Began". The Wall Street Journal.
  2. ^ a b Watrous, Peter (January 7, 1993). "Dizzy Gillespie, Who Sounded Some of Modern Jazz's Earliest Notes, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  3. ^ Gillespie, Dizzy; Fraser, Al (1979). To Be or Not to Bop. New York: Doubleday.
  4. ^ Palmer, Richard (January 2001). "The Greastest Jazzman of Them All? The Recorded Work of Dizzy Gillespie: An Appraisal". Jazz Journal: 8.
  5. ^ "Dizzy Gillespie took trumpet playing to a new level and co-founded Be-Bop – the next jazz language after Swing". jazz-music-history.com. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  6. ^ "chuckmangione.com". chuckmangione.com. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  7. ^ "Johnny Hartman Book – The Last Balladeer". johnnyhartmanbook.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  8. ^ C. (2014). "Dizzy Gillespie". New Jersey Hall of Fame.
  9. ^ Yanow, Scott (2002). All Music Guide to Jazz (4th ed.). Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-717-X.

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