Dizzy Gillespie is a virtuoso jazz trumpet player. The founder of the bebop style, a new trend in modern jazz, was an excellent arranger and composer. He has recorded a lot of albums, created musical groups.
John Birks Gillespie was able to make an enormous contribution to the development of jazz. He not only became the inspirer of the improvisational direction, but he was the first to play the upward-curved trumpet. During the performance, the musician puffed out his cheeks so that the listeners could not take their eyes off his face.
The path to the vocation
The biography of the future celebrity began in 1917. The boy was born in Chirow on October 21. In the family, he was the ninth and youngest child. My father worked as a bricklayer. All his free time was devoted to music. He played in a local band. There were always a lot of tools in the house.
Little John has not spared any attention with his attention. The boy received the nickname "Dizzy", which became his name, not for his masterly possession of one of them, but for his tricks. From them the head was spinning not only in him, but also in adults.
Musical abilities in the kid showed up early. Everyone around him drew attention to the boy's giftedness. From the age of 10, John was educated at Lorinburg College. He learned to play the trombone, drums and piano, studied theory and harmony.
However, the student's favorite instrument was the trumpet. Gillespie learned to play it himself. A fifteen-year-old teenager realized that he was ready to constantly improve his playing skills. During his studies, John played in the student orchestra.
Success
His musical career began in Philadelphia. The guy who graduated in 1937 took the third trumpet player to his band, Frank Fairfax. After moving to New York, John joined the Harlem Teddy Hill Orchestra. The leader recalled that if it were not for his amazing skill, he would never have taken an outrageous challenger to his team.
In the future, the musician's style of behavior shocked many. But it was not they who helped to win the trumpeter worldwide fame, but the eccentric manner of playing. Soon, Gillespie played the first parts, remaining the third trumpet player. The virtuoso enjoyed success during his European tour.
During the game, his face was transformed in an amazing way. Huge cheeks aroused the interest of even those who were not fond of jazz music. Striking anatomical features have become Dizzy's calling card.
After the band broke up in 1939, Dizzy moved to Cab Calloway. The manager could not understand the full extent of the talent of the new team member and fired Gilllespie. But while working in the orchestra, the trumpeter began to collaborate with famous musicians, new compositions were recorded. In 1940, the guy established his personal life. With a theater dancer in Harlem, Lorraine Willis, they became husband and wife.
At that time, the jazzman had already gained fame. His playing style was unique. He seemed to be living inside the pieces he performed. The listeners felt the power of his music with every nerve. The audience felt all the nuances and unexpected accents. And the impulsive play with the most complex structure of harmony turned the performer into a real star.
New achievements
Together with Charlie Parker and Thelonious Munch, Gillespie founded bebop. He created new ensembles, recorded albums. The jazzman played with pianist Edgar Hayes, collaborated with the orchestras of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington. In 1941-1942, during the winter, the musician worked with Benny Carter and Charlie Barnett.
Then Dizzy took up the arrangement. He carried out orders for the teams of Jimmy Dorsey and Woody Herman. Gillespie formed his first quartet in the summer of 1942. It was the world's first bebop jazz ensemble. At the end of the year, the musician began collaborating with Earl Hines as part of his orchestra. The jazzman did not disregard his own team.
He actively improved the style of the new direction. After working with famous orchestras in 1944 and 1945, the virtuoso created a new big band. In 1946 the composition of the orchestra was renewed. Percussionists were added to the rhythm group, emphasizing the Cuban-African origin of jazz. From now on, the main emphasis in all compositions was placed on the playing of soloists-improvisers, and not on the instrumental sound of the collective. In 1946-1948 the team toured Europe several times.
The new style gradually gained recognition. Glory came after starting work at the Minton club in New York. Dizzy's jam sessions turned into a real excitement around the institution. Massive glasses with black rims, berets and goatees became super fashionable with a light feed of a jazzman.
Summarizing
By the mid-forties, bebop had become one of the leading places in jazz. Thanks to Gillespie, listeners learned about the rhythms of calypso, rumba and bolero. The emotional compositions of his big band have won many fans.
On March 10, 1958, the daughter of a famous jazz performer was born. Jeanie Bryson also pursued a musical career, becoming a famous singer in America. Her work combines latina, pop, and jazz.
In the eighties, Dizzy led the United Nations Orchestra and Dream Band ensembles. He called his young colleagues students and actively collaborated with them. The jazzman always wrote down all the author's innovations in relation to music in order to explain to his followers. In 1989, Dizzy gave 300 concerts in almost 30 countries around the world.
He was awarded 14 doctoral degrees, the performer was awarded the Order of Arts and Literature of the French Republic. Gillespie won a Grammy. There is his named star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The bright life of the great musician ended in 1993, January 6.
