Dizzie Gillespie
| Dizzy Gillespie | |
|---|---|
Gillespie in concert, Deauville, Normandy, France, July 1991
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Birks Gillespie |
| Born |
October 21, 1917 Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | January 6, 1993 (aged 75) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | |
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| Years active | 1935–1993 |
| Labels | |
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (/ɡᵻˈlɛspi/; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and singer.
Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop.
In the 1940s Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan,Chuck Mangione, balladeer Johnny Hartman, and one of Gillespie's final pupils before his death, Robert Stewart (saxophonist).
AllMusic's 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 [....] Arguably Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time".
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