​John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie is one of the seminal figures in the development of jazz. He was a composer, bandleader and one of the most talented trumpet players of his or any other era. Gillespie and his friend saxophonist Charlie Parker are considered by most to be the two most important figures in the development of bebop and the primary progenitors of modern jazz. Gillespie acquired the nickname “Dizzy” because of his “penchant for clowning and capriciousness.” Dizzy Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina on October 21, 1917.

Gillespie’s father was a bricklayer and amateur musician who taught his son the basics of music and gave him a start on several instruments. After his father died when he was 10, Dizzy taught himself to play trumpet and trombone. He attended the Laurinburg Institute where he studied music. As a young man Gillespie was influenced by the playing of trumpet great Roy Eldridge and replaced his idol in the Teddy Hill Orchestra in 1937. It was with Hill that Gillespie made his first recoding.

After his time with Teddy Hill, Gillespie played in several other bands including those led by Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Earl Hines and Billy Eckstein. During the early 1940s he was one of the regular participants in the late-night jam sessions held at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem where the seeds of the bebop movement were sprouting. Other musicians that frequented those sessions included Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Christian and Max Roach. Dizzy Gillespie played trumpet on what is considered the first bebop recording session in 1944 with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. His composition Woody ‘n’ You was one of the sides they waxed that day.

Throughout the late 1940s and into the 1950s Gillespie and Parker often played and recorded together and, although Parker was sometimes annoyed with Gillespie’s comic behavior on stage, together they created some of the most important music in jazz history. Each seemed to inspire greater creativity in the other. Dizzy Gillespie formed a big band in 1946. It's repertoire included bebop tunes and Afro-Cuban jazz and featured music by Tadd Dameron, George Russell and John Lewis. Gillespie led big bands sporadically throughout the 1950s, but worked in small group settings for most of the rest of his career. He led the United Nations Orchestra for three years in the 1980s.

Gillespie’s signature bent trumpet came about due to an accident when two dancers fell on his trumpet and bent the bell upward while performing at Dizzy’s wife’s birthday party in 1953. Dizzy liked the sound and had the Martin company build him a similar model. Gillespie’s other trademark was his puffed cheeks when he played. While any music educator would tell you that was a bad way to play the trumpet, it certainly worked for Dizzy!

Dizzy Gillespie made tremendous contributions to the world of music and is revered by jazz musicians to this day. He was an important influence on Miles Davis, John Faddis, Arturo Sandoval and Clifford Brown among many others. Gillespie passed away due to pancreatic cancer in 1993 at the age of 75.

Here is a link to a mid-1940s film short featuring a performance by Dizzy Gillespie’s big band playing one his best-known compositions:

"OOP BOP SH' BAM"