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Trumpeter, composer, and innovator John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was born in Cheraw, SC, in 1917. His father was a bricklayer and part-time bandleader who died when Dizzy was 10. |
At age 12, young Gillespie began teaching himself to play trombone and trumpet, later picking up the cornet as well. His formal musical education began in 1932 when he attended the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina.
By 1935, Gillespie had quit school and moved to Philadelphia, following his family's move from Cheraw. He began to play professionally with the Frankie Fairfax band. Band mate Charlie Shavers helped Gillespie by teaching him some of the solos of Roy Eldridge, one of Dizzy's early role models. During his time with Fairfax, Gillespie earned his nickname, a reference to his sense of humor and tendency to clown (act "dizzy").
Gillespie moved to New York in 1937 playing and jamming with many bands until he landed a job with Teddy Hill's big band, filling the vacancy left by none other than Roy Eldridge. Through 1940, Gillespie worked with a number of small groups and big bands, most notably that of Cab Calloway. His friendship with one of Calloway's other players, Mario Bauzá, sparked an interest in Afro-Cuban music that was to become one of Gillespie's life-long enthusiasms.
Between 1939 and 1944, Gillespie began to shape a different sound for himself, relying less on his ability to technically imitate his musical idols. In 1940, while on tour in Kansas City, he met Charlie Parker and soon found himself playing after-hours jam sessions with Parker, Thelonius Monk, Kenny Clarke, and others. Together they experimented with more and more complex music, slowly developing a style that became known as "bop."
After leaving Calloway's band in 1941, Gillespie played with a succession of leaders, including Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnett, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald, Lucky Millender, Charles Hite, and Earl Hines. In the winter of 1943-44, he and Charlie Parker cut some of the first small-group bop recordings, including "Salt Peanuts" and "Hot House Flower."
From the mid-'40s through 1950 Gillespie lead two big bands and a number of smaller ensembles, playing at times with James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, Ray Brown, and John Lewis. In 1953, an accident left him with a bent trumpet, the bell pointing upward from the body of the instrument at about 45 degrees. Gillespie decided he liked the sound, and began to have instruments made for him that way, a visual trademark he kept for the rest of his life.
While he was considered a musical radical in the 1940s and early '50s, the wide acceptance of the bop sound he pioneered with Charlie Parker eventually led to the acknowledgement of Gillespie as an elder statesman of jazz. He remained an outgoing and tireless ambassador for bop throughout his life. Dizzy Gillespie died in Englewood, NJ, in 1993.
Set List for Dizzy Gillespie on Piano JazzCon Alma (D. Gillespie)
In a Mellow Tone (D. Ellington)
On the Alamo (I. Jones)
Manteca (D. Gillespie)
Profile of the Diz (M. McPartland)
Round Midnight (T. Monk)
Profile of the Diz II (M. McPartland)
Night in Tunisia (D. Gillespie)
Dizzy Gillespie on Verve Records
By 1935, Gillespie had quit school and moved to Philadelphia, following his family's move from Cheraw. He began to play professionally with the Frankie Fairfax band. Band mate Charlie Shavers helped Gillespie by teaching him some of the solos of Roy Eldridge, one of Dizzy's early role models. During his time with Fairfax, Gillespie earned his nickname, a reference to his sense of humor and tendency to clown (act "dizzy").
Gillespie moved to New York in 1937 playing and jamming with many bands until he landed a job with Teddy Hill's big band, filling the vacancy left by none other than Roy Eldridge. Through 1940, Gillespie worked with a number of small groups and big bands, most notably that of Cab Calloway. His friendship with one of Calloway's other players, Mario Bauzá, sparked an interest in Afro-Cuban music that was to become one of Gillespie's life-long enthusiasms.
Between 1939 and 1944, Gillespie began to shape a different sound for himself, relying less on his ability to technically imitate his musical idols. In 1940, while on tour in Kansas City, he met Charlie Parker and soon found himself playing after-hours jam sessions with Parker, Thelonius Monk, Kenny Clarke, and others. Together they experimented with more and more complex music, slowly developing a style that became known as "bop."
After leaving Calloway's band in 1941, Gillespie played with a succession of leaders, including Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnett, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald, Lucky Millender, Charles Hite, and Earl Hines. In the winter of 1943-44, he and Charlie Parker cut some of the first small-group bop recordings, including "Salt Peanuts" and "Hot House Flower."
From the mid-'40s through 1950 Gillespie lead two big bands and a number of smaller ensembles, playing at times with James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, Ray Brown, and John Lewis. In 1953, an accident left him with a bent trumpet, the bell pointing upward from the body of the instrument at about 45 degrees. Gillespie decided he liked the sound, and began to have instruments made for him that way, a visual trademark he kept for the rest of his life.
While he was considered a musical radical in the 1940s and early '50s, the wide acceptance of the bop sound he pioneered with Charlie Parker eventually led to the acknowledgement of Gillespie as an elder statesman of jazz. He remained an outgoing and tireless ambassador for bop throughout his life. Dizzy Gillespie died in Englewood, NJ, in 1993.
Set List for Dizzy Gillespie on Piano Jazz
Related Links
Dizzy Gillespie on Verve Records