"Seven for Saturday" is a great way to see some of the legendary men and women of jazz in action.
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer.
Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Jon Faddis and Chuck Mangione.
“Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. Arguably considered by both crtics and fans alike, Gillespie is remembered as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time. Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated."
In addition to featuring in the epochal moments in bebop, he was instrumental in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of what early-jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton referred to as 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.
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. [wikipedia.org]
Here is a 1958 video of Mr. Gillespie performing in Belgium with Sonny Stitt (tenor sax), Lou Levy (piano), Ray Brown (bass), Gus Johnson (drums).
Dizzy Gillespie and quintet recorded in 1965 to coincide with the release of the album "Dizzy on the French Riviera
"Salt Peanuts
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