Difference between revisions of "Dizzy Gillespie" - New World Encyclopedia
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| name = John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie | | name = John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie | ||
| image = Dizzy Gillespie seated 1955.jpg | | image = Dizzy Gillespie seated 1955.jpg | ||
| − | | caption = Dizzy Gillespie in 1955. | + | | caption = Dizzy Gillespie in 1955. |
| birth_date = October 21, 1917 | | birth_date = October 21, 1917 | ||
| birth_place = Cheraw, South Carolina, United States | | birth_place = Cheraw, South Carolina, United States | ||
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'''John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie''' (October 21 1917 – January 6 1993) was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He was an [[United States|American]] [[jazz]] [[trumpet|trumpeter]], bandleader, singer, and composer. Gillespie, with [[Charlie Parker]], was a major figure in the development of [[bebop]] and modern jazz. | '''John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie''' (October 21 1917 – January 6 1993) was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He was an [[United States|American]] [[jazz]] [[trumpet|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, the modern jazz version of the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of [[harmony|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, 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. | + | In addition to featuring in these epochal moments in jazz, he was instrumental in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser, building on the virtuoso style of [[Roy Eldridge]] but adding layers of [[harmony|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, 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. |
He also used 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. | He also used 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. | ||
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===The rise of bebop=== | ===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", "Salt Peanuts", and "A Night in Tunisia" sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, than the [[ | + | 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", "Salt Peanuts", 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. |
[[Image:Dizzy Statue.jpg|thumb|right|Dizzy Gillespie statue in Cheraw, South Carolina]] | [[Image:Dizzy Statue.jpg|thumb|right|Dizzy Gillespie statue in Cheraw, South Carolina]] | ||
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===Afro-Cuban music=== | ===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 [[ | + | 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 conga player, Chano Pozo. In 1977, Gillespie discovered Arturo Sandoval while researching music during a tour of Cuba. |
===Later years and death=== | ===Later years and death=== | ||
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[[Image:Dizzy at Nambasa.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Dizzy Gillespie at [[Nambassa]] festival 1981.]] | [[Image:Dizzy at Nambasa.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Dizzy Gillespie at [[Nambassa]] festival 1981.]] | ||
| − | Unlike his contemporary [[Miles Davis]], Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career. | + | Unlike his contemporary [[Miles Davis]], Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career. 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. |
| − | + | [[Image:Dizzy and Bill Stewart.jpg|thumb|right| Dizzy Gillespie with drummer Bill Stewart at 1984 [[Stanford]] Jazz Workshop]] | |
| − | Gillespie | + | In 1989 Gillespie gave 300 performances in 27 countries, appeared in 100 U.S. cities in 31 states and the District of Columbia, headlined three television specials, performed with two symphonies, and recorded four albums. He was also crowned a traditional chief in [[Nigeria]], received the ''Commandre d'Ordre des Artes et Lettres'' — [[France|France's]] most prestigious cultural award — was named ''regent professor'' by the University of California, and received his fourteenth honorary doctoral degree, this one from the Berklee College of Music. In addition, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the same year. The next year, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ceremonies celebrating the centennial of American jazz, Gillespie received the Kennedy Center Honors Award and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ''Duke Ellington Award'' for 50 years of achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader.<ref>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30611FF3B5C0C778DDDAB0994D8494D81 Pop/Jazz; A Tribute For Gillespie And the Jazz He Created]</ref><ref>[http://www.jazzwithbobparlocha.com/what/jazzbios/jazzbio_dizzy_gillespie.html Jazz with Bob Parlocha - Biographies - Dizzy Gillespie]</ref> |
| − | [[ | + | November 26, 1992 at [[Carnegie Hall]] in New York, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress was Dizzy's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of [[Bahá'u'lláh]]. Gillespie was to appear there at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included: John Faddis, Marvin "Doc" Holladay, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from cancer of the pancreas. "But the musicians played their hearts out for him, no doubt suspecting that he would not play again. Each musician gave tribute to their friend, this great soul and innovator in the world of jazz."<ref>[http://bahai-library.org/bafa/g/gillespie.htm The Spiritual Side of Dizzy by Lowell Johnson]</ref> |
| − | + | He died of [[pancreatic cancer]] in 1993 in Englewood, New Jersey, aged 75, and was buried in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York. Mike Longo delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also with Gillespie on the night he died. | |
| − | + | 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. Gillespie had two funerals. One was a Bahá´í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended. The second was at the Cathedral of [[St. John the Divine]] in New York attended by the world.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEFDA163BF93BA35752C0A965958260 Dizzy Gillespie Memorial]</ref> | |
| − | + | ===Legacy=== | |
| − | + | He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in the [[Hollywood]] secton of the [[Los Angeles|City of Los Angeles]]. | |
| − | Dizzy Gillespie, a Bahá'í since 1970, was one of the most famous adherents of the [[Bahá'í Faith]] which helped him make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying roughneck to global citizen, and from alcohol to ''soul force'', in the words of author | + | Dizzy Gillespie, a Bahá'í since 1970, was one of the most famous adherents of the [[Bahá'í Faith]] which helped him make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying roughneck to global citizen, and from alcohol to ''soul force'', in the words of author Nat Hentoff, who knew Gillespie for forty years.<ref>[http://jazztimes.com/columns_and_features/final_chorus/index.cfm?id=46 Remembering Dizzy]</ref><ref>[http://bahai-library.com/index.php5?file=shipton_groovin_high_gillespie Groovin' High The Life of Dizzy Gillespie] by Alyn Shipton</ref><ref>[http://bahai-library.com/file.php5?file=pokorny_shipton_groovin_high&language=All Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie] Review by Brad Pokorny</ref> He is often called the ''Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador''.<ref>[http://www.unbf.ca/clubs/abs/dizzy.htm The Baha'i Voice Presents:Dizzy Gileespie, Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador]</ref> He is honored with weekly jazz sessions at the New York Bahá'í Center.<ref>[http://www.bcca.org/communities/us/ny/nyc/jazz.html Jazz @ the Bahá'í Center]</ref> |
| − | |||
| − | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 17:30, 23 July 2007
| John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie | |
 Dizzy Gillespie in 1955.
| |
| Born | October 21, 1917 Cheraw, South Carolina, United States |
|---|---|
| Died | December 25, 2006 Englewood, New Jersey, United States |
| Occupation | Jazz Trumpeter, Bandleader, Singer and Composer |
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21 1917 – January 6 1993) was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He was an American 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, the modern jazz version of the "Spanish Tinge". 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, 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.
He also used 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 "Dizzy" Gillespie was the youngest of ten children. His father, who regularly beat his children, died when Gillespie was ten. Dizzy's main inspiration was his father, for he was the one who owned and played all of the instruments that Dizzy liked. Gillespie taught himself to play the trumpet at the age of 12 and managed to win a scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. However, he dropped out of school in 1935, moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 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", "Salt Peanuts", 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.
On March 11, 1952 Gillespie left for France after being invited by Charles Delaunay to play on Salon du Jazz. [1] Gillespie did not have any other commitments during his time in Paris and therefore embarked on his Blue Star sessions and started to assemble his third big band. Due to his prior success he could now record in the finest studios like Théatre des Champs-Elysées. In 1953 he returned to the United States after a series of successful concerts and recordings, but most importantly he proved himself to be a successful bandleader. In 1956 he organized a band to go on a State Department tour of the Middle East and earned the nickname "the Ambassador of Jazz"[2][3].
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 conga player, Chano Pozo. In 1977, Gillespie discovered Arturo Sandoval while researching music during a tour of Cuba.
Later years and death
Unlike his contemporary Miles Davis, Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career. 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.
In 1989 Gillespie gave 300 performances in 27 countries, appeared in 100 U.S. cities in 31 states and the District of Columbia, headlined three television specials, performed with two symphonies, and recorded four albums. He was also crowned a traditional chief in Nigeria, received the Commandre d'Ordre des Artes et Lettres — France's most prestigious cultural award — was named regent professor by the University of California, and received his fourteenth honorary doctoral degree, this one from the Berklee College of Music. In addition, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the same year. The next year, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ceremonies celebrating the centennial of American jazz, Gillespie received the Kennedy Center Honors Award and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Duke Ellington Award for 50 years of achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader.[4][5]
November 26, 1992 at Carnegie Hall in New York, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress was Dizzy's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. Gillespie was to appear there at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included: John Faddis, Marvin "Doc" Holladay, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from cancer of the pancreas. "But the musicians played their hearts out for him, no doubt suspecting that he would not play again. Each musician gave tribute to their friend, this great soul and innovator in the world of jazz."[6]
He died of pancreatic cancer in 1993 in Englewood, New Jersey, aged 75, and was buried in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York. Mike Longo delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also with Gillespie on the night he died.
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. Gillespie had two funerals. One was a Bahá´í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended. The second was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York attended by the world.[7]
Legacy
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood secton of the City of Los Angeles.
Dizzy Gillespie, a Bahá'í since 1970, was one of the most famous adherents of the Bahá'í Faith which helped him make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying roughneck to global citizen, and from alcohol to soul force, in the words of author Nat Hentoff, who knew Gillespie for forty years.[8][9][10] He is often called the Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador.[11] He is honored with weekly jazz sessions at the New York Bahá'í Center.[12]
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ Tercinet, Alain, Booklet of The Great Blue Star Sessions 1952-1953
- ↑ from Ken Burns's Jazz, A Gillespie Biography
- ↑ Ken Burns's Jazz, A Gillespie Biography
- ↑ Pop/Jazz; A Tribute For Gillespie And the Jazz He Created
- ↑ Jazz with Bob Parlocha - Biographies - Dizzy Gillespie
- ↑ The Spiritual Side of Dizzy by Lowell Johnson
- ↑ Dizzy Gillespie Memorial
- ↑ Remembering Dizzy
- ↑ Groovin' High The Life of Dizzy Gillespie by Alyn Shipton
- ↑ Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie Review by Brad Pokorny
- ↑ The Baha'i Voice Presents:Dizzy Gileespie, Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador
- ↑ Jazz @ the Bahá'í Center
