Featured In
ALBUMManteca (Remastered 2024)Dizzy Gillespie
Albums by Dizzy Gillespie
ALBUMDizzy's Big 4 [Original Jazz Classics Remasters]Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Ray Brown & Mickey Roker
ALBUMSalt PeanutsDizzy Gillespie
ALBUMDizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods QuintetDizzy Gillespie & Phil Woods Quintet
ALBUMAfter Hours (Remastered)Charlie Christian & Dizzy Gillespie
ALBUMJazz in Paris: The GiantDizzy Gillespie
ALBUMBird Songs: The Final Recordings (Live At The Blue Note, New York City, NY / January 23-25, 1992)Dizzy Gillespie
ALBUMDizzier & DizzierDizzy Gillespie
ALBUMVerve Jazz Masters 25: Stan Getz & Dizzy GillespieStan Getz & Dizzy Gillespie
ALBUMDizzy Gillespie & the Mitchell/Ruff DuoThe Mitchell-Ruff Duo & Dizzy Gillespie
ALBUMOo" "…oo. Oo" "oo-shoo-be-doo-be … Oo (feat. Kenny Drew, Isla Eckinger, Ed Thigpen)Lilian Terry & Dizzy Gillespie
Artist Playlists
Dizzy Gillespie Essentials
His talent carried jazz from the old school to the new school.
Dizzy Gillespie: Deep Cuts
Jazz-orchestra opuses, romantic reveries, and brassy flair.
Artist Biography
Trumpeter John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was a crucial figure in the advent of bebop in the 1940s, playing alongside Charlie Parker as they pivoted from the swing era toward a small jazz group built around breakneck tempos and technically demanding improvisations. Born in 1917 in Cheraw, North Carolina, Gillespie was already a strong musician when his family moved to Philadelphia in 1935. He went on to play in bands led by Teddy Hill, Cab Calloway, and Billy Eckstine, reconnecting with Parker in the final band and sparking a revolution. During the 1940s he alternated between leading his own big band and playing in smaller settings with Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, and Milt Jackson, among others. In the late 1940s he helped develop a high-energy Cuban jazz fusion, working with percussionist Chano Pozo and arranger Mario Bauzá. Gillespie’s humorously avuncular presence, bent trumpet, and blown-out cheeks elevated him to jazz royalty by the 1950s, where he continued to switch between small combos and big bands. In 1988 he formed the United Nation Orchestra, embracing and promoting the global spread of jazz. His achievements retain their mix of technical ferocity and ebullient humanity. He died from pancreatic cancer in 1993, aged 75.
Hometown
Genre
Jazz