Dizzy Gillespie

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. Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser. In addition to his instrumental skills, Dizzy's beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn and pouched cheeks, and his light-hearted personality endeared many to what was regarded as threatening and frightening music. In his playing, Gillespie built on the "saxophonic" style of Roy Eldridge and the harmonic complexity of Charlie Parker and then went far beyond Bird. That is, unlike his great contemporary, Dizzy made a point of enthusiastically teaching future generations (such as Miles Davis at the time) about the convolutions of bop. His memorable trademarks were distending his cheeks while playing (unlike most trumpet players, who are trained not to do this — "Gillespie's pouch" is purportedly a term used by the medical community for cheek distention) and 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.