Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks Dizzy Gillespie ???l?spi 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 Eldridge2 but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz His combination of musicianship showmanship and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop His beret and hornrimmed spectacles his scat singing his bent horn pouched cheeks and his lighthearted personality provided some of bebops most prominent symbols 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 and balladeer Johnny Hartman AllMusics Scott Yanow wrote Dizzy Gillespies 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 Faddiss emergence in the 1970s that Dizzys style was successfully recreated Arguably Gillespie is remembered by both critics and fans alike as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia