Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He was an African-American Baha'i 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. 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 and 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.

His memorable trademarks were distending his cheeks while playing (unlike most trumpet players, who are trained not to do this) 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.

Biography

Early life and career

John Birks Gillespie was the youngest of nine children, and he taught himself to play the trumpet at the age of 12. His father, who beat his children regularly, died when Gillespie was ten. Despite the poverty he grew up in, he managed to win a scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. However, he dropped out of school in 1935, moved to Philadelphia, and became desperate to work as a full-time musician. Gillespie first joined Frankie Fairfax, and made his recording debut filling for Roy Eldridge in Teddy Hill's band.

After 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 lost the spot in Calloway's band for an unrelated reason, however: Calloway accused Gillespie of firing a spitball at him during a concert, and the hot-headed Gillespie stabbed Calloway in the leg with a small knife. Gillespie went through many bands including Duke Ellington's, and also arranged music for Woody Herman.

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's more conventional band.

The rise of bebop

With Charlie Parker, Gillespie jammed at famous jazz clubs like Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House, where the first seeds of bebop were planted. Gillespie's compositions like "Groovin' High", "Woody n' You", "Anthropology", and "A Night in Tunisia" sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, than the Swing music popular at the time. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was only issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Gillespie taught many of the young musicians on 52nd Street, like Miles Davis and Max Roach, about the new style of jazz. After a lengthy gig at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles, though, which left most of those in the audience ambivalent or hostile towards the new music, the band broke up. Unlike Parker, who was content to play in small groups and be an occasional featured soloist in big bands, Gillespie aimed to lead a big band himself; his first attempt to do this came in 1945, but it did not prove a success.

After his work with Parker, Gillespie led other small combos (including ones with Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin) and finally put together his first successful big band. He also appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. In 1956, Gillespie led the State Department Band on a tour around the world.

Afro-Cuban music

In the late 1940s, Gillespie was also 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's most famous contributions to Afro-Cuban music are the compositions "Manteca" and "Tin Tin Deo"; he was responsible for commissioning George Russell's "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop", which featured the great but ill-fated Cuban congo player, Chano Pozo. In 1977, Gillespie discovered Arturo Sandoval while researching music during a tour of Cuba.

Last years

Unlike his contemporary Miles Davis, Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career. Gillespie published his autobiography, To Be or not to Bop in 1979. In the 1980s, Dizzy Gillespie led the United Nations Orchestra, and had a guest appearance on The Cosby Show as well as Sesame Street. In 1982, Dizzy Gillespie had a cameo on Stevie Wonder's hit "Do I Do". Gillespie's tone gradually faded in the last years in life, and his performances often focused more on his proteges such as Arturo Sandoval and Jon Faddis; his good-humoured comedic routines became more and more a part of his live act.

He died of cancer in early 1993, aged 75, and is buried in the Flushing Cemetery in Queens, New York City.

At the time of his death, Dizzy was survived by his widow, Lorraine Willis Gillespie, a daughter, jazz singer Jeanie Bryson, and a grandson, Radji Birks Bryson-Barrett.

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

Trivia

He was the most famous Baha'i of his time.
In 1964 Gillespie put himself forward as a presidential candidate. He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed The Blues House. Ray Charles would be appointed Librarian of Congress.
Australian cricketer Jason Gillespie, well known for his long, frizzy mullet hairstyle (which he has since had cut off), is nicknamed "Dizzy Gillespie" after John Gillespie.

External links

Samples

Hot House.ogg of "Hot House"

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