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Biography
John
Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, one of the
greatest Jazz trumpeters of 20th century and one
of the prime architects of the bebop movement in
jazz, was born in Cheraw, South Carolina and died
in Englewood, New Jersey.
Nicknamed "Dizzy" because of his zany
on-stage antics, Gillespie, a brass virtuoso, set
new standards for trumpet players with his
innovative, "jolting rhythmic shifts and
ceaseless harmonic explorations" on the
instrument during the 1940's period, which ushered
in a definitive change in American Jazz music from
swing to bebop. The last of nine children,
Gillespie was born into a family whose father,
James, was a bricklayer, pianist and band leader:
Dizzy's mother was named Lottie. Dizzy's father
kept all the instruments from his band in the
family home and so the future trumpet great was
around trumpets, saxophones, guitars and his
father's large upright piano (his father tore down
one of the walls of the house to get the piano in
) most of his young life. James use to make all of
his older children practice instruments but none
of them cared for music. Dizzy's father died when
he was ten and never heard his youngest son play
trumpet, although he did get the chance to hear
him banging around on the piano, because Dizzy
started trying to play this intrument at a very
early age.
In 1930, Gillespie tried learning how to play the
trombone but his arms were too short to play it
well. That same year he started playing a friend's
trumpet and heard one night over the radio a
broadcast of Roy Eldridge playing trumpet in Teddy
Hill's Orchestra, that was playing at the Savoy
Ballroom in New York City. Young Gillespie, then
13, loved Eldridge's playing and the entire band.
From that day on, he dreamed of becoming a jazz
musician.
In 1933, after graduating from Robert Smalls
secondary school, Gillespie received a music
scholarship to attend Laurinburg Institute, in
North Carolina. He stayed there for two years,
studying harmony and theory until his family moved
to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1935. In
Philadelphia, Gillespie began playing trumpet with
local bands, learning all of his idol Eldridge's
solos from records and radio broadcasts: it was in
Philadelphia that he picked up his nickname of
"Dizzy.". In 1937, "Dizzy"
moved to New York and replaced Eldridge in Teddy
Hill's Orchestra. After a couple of years
Gillespie moved on to Cab Calloway's band in 1939.
In 1937, Gillespie met his future wife, Lorraine,
a chorus dancer at the famed Apollo Theater: they
were married in 1940 and remained together until
his death. Gillespie worked with many bands during
the early 1940's (Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson,
Benny Carter, "Fatha" Hines and Billy
Eckstine's seminal band ) before teaming up with
Charlie Parker in 1945. Their revolutionary band
ushered in the bebop era and was one of the
greatest small bands of the 20th century. An
arranger and composer, Gillespie wrote some of the
greatest jazz tunes of his era: songs such as
"Groovin' High", "A Night in
Tunisia" and "Manteca" are
considered jazz classics today..
With his trumpet and its upturned, golden bell,
goatee, black horn rim glasses and beret,
Gillespie became a symbol of both jazz and a
rebellious, independent spirit during the 1940's
and 50's. His interest in Cuban and African music
helped to introduce those music's to a mainstream
American audience. When he died he was famous and
beloved everywhere and had influenced entire
generations of trumpet players all over the world
who loved and emulated his playing and his always
positive, upbeat, optimistic attitude.
Quincy Troupe
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