Dizzy Gillespie

Born: October 21, 1917

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, along with Charlie Parker, ushered in the era of Be-Bop in the American jazz tradition. He was born Cheraw, South Carolina, and was the youngest of nine children. He began playing piano at the age of four and received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. Most noted for his trademark "swollen cheeks", Gillespie admitted to copying the style of trumpeter Roy Eldridge early in his career.

He replaced Eldridge in the 'Teddy Hill' Band after Eldridge's departure. He eventually began experimenting and creating his own style which would eventually come to the attention of Mario Bauza, the Godfather of Afro-Cuban jazz who was then a member of the Cap Calloway Orchestra, joining Calloway in 1939, Gillespie was fired after two years when he cut a portion of the Calloway's buttocks with a knife after Calloway accused him of throwing spitballs (the two men later became lifelong friends and often retold this story with great relish until both of their deaths).

George Coleman: George Coleman with Strings

by Jack Kenny
September 2, 2025

The allure of recording with strings has captivated many jazz icons, from Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie to, most famously, Charlie Parker. For some, it is a pursuit of a different kind of respectability, an envying nod to the classical world. For George Coleman, a revered NEA Jazz Master, it was a chance to expand his ...

Remembering Sheila Jordan: Sheila's Blues

by Ian Patterson
August 26, 2025

NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, who passed away on August 11, 2025, at the age of 96, will be remembered as one of the great improvising jazz vocalists--imitated by many, bettered by none. Born in Detroit in 1928, Jordan's life-long love affair with jazz began in the 1940s when she heard Charlie Parker. “After ...

Ray Brown: His Life and Music

by Andrew Hunter
August 25, 2025

Ray Brown: His Life and Music Jay Sweet 310 Pages ISBN: # 9781800505353 Equinox Publishing2025 It is such a common occurrence in life that bad things happen to good people, and conversely that good things happen to bad people, that there is a branch of theology given to ...

The Unlikely Story of Cannonball Adderley's Rise to the Top

by Alan Bryson
August 13, 2025

For me, the most gripping music stories are the tales of “overnight sensations." In the jazz sphere, we have our share. There is the story of an eighteen-year-old Billie Holiday, discovered by producer John Hammond while she was a hostess in a Harlem club. There is the tale of a seventeen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald, whose triumphant debut ...

Meet Alto Saxophonist Erena Terakubo

by Sanford Josephson
August 2, 2025

For many years, trumpeter/educator Tiger Okoshi has been directing the Hokkaido Grove Jazz Camp during summers in Sapporo, Japan. At one of his first camps, he met a 12-year-old alto saxophonist named Erena Terakubo."She was shining, and she knew it," he recalled. “She was determined, driven, and already sounded like a young Charlie Parker."

Hal Galper: Adventures In The Zone

by Paul Rauch
July 29, 2025

This article was first published on All About Jazz on October 20, 2020. The career of Hal Galper has earned the pianist acclaim as both a performer and educator. Perhaps most importantly, it has drawn attention to his contributions to the music as a true innovator. While other pianists of his era gained more ...

Ornette Coleman's and Horace Silver's "Lonely Woman" �� A Disambiguation

by Artur Moral
July 27, 2025

Reality is filled with confusion and misunderstandings; some are suggestive or creative, while others are disappointing or, worse, malicious. The jazz world is no stranger to the first type: specific compositions are often confused or misidentified as if they were the same. Usually, this happens because of similar melodies or titles that are sometimes identical. This ...

Chuck Mangione: Friend For Lovers

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 26, 2025

This article first appeared on All About Jazz in September 2000. Chuck Mangione is best known as the trumpet player and composer of that ubiquitous tune, which taught millions worldwide that music “Feels So Good." But Chuck Mangione boasts serious Jazz chops: Before flying solo, he cut his teeth in the Woody ...

Chuck Mangione: Back On Track

by Michael Ricci
July 26, 2025

This article first appeared on All About Jazz in June 1999... without embedded videos. For three decades, Chuck Mangione's infectious energy, unbridled enthusiasm, and pure joy have defined his deep passion for music. Born and raised in Rochester, New York, he first garnered attention playing with the Jazz Brothers alongside his older brother, Gap. ...