Dizzy Gillespie: Bebop Movement In Jazz

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Dizzy Gillespie got the nickname Dizzy from his zany on-stage antics his real name is John Birk Gillespie, he set a new standard for trumpet players with his innovative “jolting rhythmic shifts and ceaseless harmonic explorations” on the instrument during the 1940s, Which ushered in a new definitive change in American jazz music from swing to bebop during the 20th century and one of the prime architects of the bebop movement in jazz. Dizzy was the last of nine kids, was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, in 1917 to his father and mother James and Lottie Gillespie. His father was a bricklayer, pianist and band leader, his father kept all of his band instrument at his house, the great trumpet play was surrounded by musical instrument during his …show more content…

During the time Dizzy was in a band with Charlie Parker, he wrote some of the greatest jazz tunes of his era,including Groovin’ High, A Night in Tunisia and Manteca, all songs which became jazz classics.
Dizzy at one point in his life ran for president in 1964 and 1972, he told the Jets Magazine in 1971 that if he was elected, he would name the boxer Muhammad Ali Secretary of state and would name Duke Ellington as a ambassador to any country that he wanted to go to, but Dizzy was not elected both of the years that he ran.
With his trumpet’s upturned golden bell - the result, Gillespie stated in his autobiography,of the dancers Stump and Stumpy accidentally falling onto it during a birthday party for his wife- and his goatee, horn rim glasses and beret, Gillespie became a symbol of both jazz and a rebellious, independent spirit during the 1940s and 50s. (One of Gillespie’s trumpets sold for $63,000 in 1995.)
Dizzy Gillespie died of pancreatic cancer in 1993. He was world-famous and much beloved among musicians and listeners. Gillespie influenced generations of musicians who admired and emulated not just his musicianship, his positive, upbeat, optimistic attitude, and