Dizzy Gillespie

From Harlem Renaissance

Dizzy Gillespie

1 A short summery of Dizzy Gillespie's life
2 Dizzy and Cab Calloway
3 Dizzy Trumpet
4 Dizzy's "Style"
5 Dizzy's later life
- 5.1 see dizzy playing
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A short summery of Dizzy Gillespie's life

Dizzy Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina in 1917 to a family of ten. His father was a bricklayer and the leader of a band, so instruments were available to him at a very young age. He started playing piano at 4 years old. He taught himself to play the trombone but switched to the trumpet before he turned 12. He received a scholarship for music to a small school that was called the Laurinburg Institute, Laurinburg, North Carolina. He left school in 1935 to become a successful musician. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his idol, Roy Eldridge (the early bop trumpeter who was a black musician in a white band). He joined the Band Frankie Fairfax in Philadelphia and then earned the nickname "Dizzy" for his comical stage anctics [1].

Cab Calloway

Dizzy and Cab Calloway

In 1939 Dizzy went to New York and was hired by Cab Calloway as a trumpet player. He played in Cab's band but Cab Calloway did not like Dizzy's stage theatrics. For example, Cab would sing, "Baby, won't you please come home" and Dizzy would look into the audience as if he were looking for someone. The audience would crack up and Cab Calloway would get angry because they were laughing at a love song. Cab did not like Dizzy's solo style and he said, "Your playing is Chinese Music!" and banned it. Dizzy remained in the band until 1941. At one point a band member shot a spitball at the back of Cab's head while Cab was singing. Dizzy was accused and the two started fighting. Cab was cut with a knife by Dizzy and although a band member confessed that he had shot the spitball, Dizzy was fired from the band.

Dizzy Trumpet

In 1953 someone fell on Dizzy Gillespie trumpet, which was lying on a trumpet stand, and bent the front up. Dizzy Gillespie played it and found out that its sound was a good one and from that point on his trumpets were always made like that with the front pointing upwards at a 45 degree angle. This became his visual trademark for three decades. He was the only major trumpeter in jazz playing an instrument like it.

Dizzy's "Style"

Dizzy started to play the piano at the age of 4 and every since then had a connection to music. Also Dizzy was inspired by Roy Eldridge a famous trumpet player and a major icon of swing and bebop music. Dizzy said later in his life "After hearing Roy's beat I knew I had to try out the trumpet" and so he did. Who would have known that he would be one of the most reconizable figures of jazz and bebop[2]. After becoming a home-town hit, Dizzy's dad thought Dizzy could live the life in New York and so he did. Once playing with Charlie Parker, a Alto Saxophonist, he was inspired to work with him more. Dizzy also worked on many things in his life like a style of music called Afro-Cuban which is a variant of the salsa and jazz. Dizzy also added on adding harmonic layers to pieces of musical hero Roy Elridge. But while Dizzy's talent was gaining his parter Charlie Parker was depleting due to drug addiction so Dizzy had no choice but to leave his parter for the best.

Dizzy Gillespie Statue in hometown Cheraw, South Carolina

Gary Giddens, jazz critic and author in an interview for Ken Burn’s Jazz on PBS, Location: N/A, Date: April 9, 1996, when asked about Dizzy Gillespie and the creation of bebop summed it up.

"Dizzy came out of Roy Eldridge. He came out of the hippest trumpet player that preceded him. He used to call Roy Eldridge the Messiah of our generation. So he had a harmonic sense and he had an innate gift for harmony anyway and rhythm and he had a tremendous facility that was very unusual for the trumpet. At first he did all the apprenticeship and we can hear him developing, he played in the big bands. He arranged for big bands. He did everything so that by the time he meets Charley Parker, he’s really ready and he understands what Parker’s doing. He understood the harmony, the rhythm the melody, he understood everything before, but he said, “Parker showed us how to get from one note to the, to the next.” And Gillespie instantly became what he once called the other half of his heartbeat and so together they really created the new jazz movement."

Dizzy's later life

Later in Dizzy's life he starred in kid's shows like Sesame Street where he showcased his very playful attitude to young watchers. Also on a more serious note he received the Grammy Life Time Achievement which is an award given to people who have made great creative contributions to the musical world. Some other major icons in the musical world like Elvis, The Beach Boys, Bob Marley, The Who, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington received this award. While keeping up with his social media life he still found time to fit in some more concerts. On his 75th birthday Dizzy was suppose to play in Carnegie Hall (33rd time playing at the hall) when he fell sick in bed and later died that year. In January 6, 1993 Dizzy (Age 75) died from pancreatic cancer and was left a copper statue in his hometown Cheraw. Image:Example.jpg