The Genius of Dizzy Gillespie

The Genius of Dizzy Gillespie

By Matthew J. Bellisario 2023

“Let me tell you, no one can play like Diz…” José Carr

Dizzy Gillespie and his musical partner Charlie Parker, also known as Bird, may be the two most important figures in Jazz history. While certainly not the first famous or influential musicians in Jazz, these two had arguably the greatest effect on Jazz improvisation. While Jazz from the beginning had an element of improvisation, these two figures brought this element to a new level and opened doors for many generations leading into Hard Bop, Jazz fusion and beyond. Charlie Parker who was also initially equally as important as his counterpart Gillespie had his career cut short by substance abuse dying in 1955 at the age of 35. Gillespie went on to a long career having a greater impact on jazz music overall playing until his death in 1993 at the age of 75.

New Orleans Jazz had its innovators such as Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Kid Ory, King Oliver and Sidney Bechet. The period of the swing bands gave rise to great composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman. Many of these Big Bands influenced Diz and Bird such as Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra and Benny Moten' outfit who often played out of Kansas City where Parker grew up. The two biggest influences on Gillespie's playing were Roy Eldridge and Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison. Gillespie once said, “Many critics always saw and heard that my style comes from Roy Eldridge, which is true. But for many things, not only how to play the trumpet but the way to choose the notes, how to play them and how to phrase all of them, I took that from Sweets [Edison]. He really brought something new to the trumpet.” While these musicians and composers are indeed legends, jazz rose to new heights with the rise of Diz and Bird’s bebop in the early 1940s. Jazz music has been expanding with new creativity ever since.

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was born on October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina along the banks of the Pee Dee River. John started playing music early. His father was a bandleader giving him access to many instruments. He first became familiar with the piano playing it well by the age of 4 and then playing the trumpet and trombone proficiently by the age of 12. He graduated school in 1933, and was awarded a scholarship to a small prep school called Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. He played music there for two years until his family moved to Philadelphia in 1935. After hearing the great trumpet player Roy Eldridge, he knew what he wanted to do with his life and that was to play music.

Even in his younger years musicians John played with recognized a unique virtuosity in his trumpet playing which was enhanced by his knowledge of the piano. He is quoted as saying, “Learn to play the piano, man, and then you can figure out crazy solos of your own.” As a result, Gillespie played his early years with large popular bands led by giants such as Teddy Hill and Cab Calloway. After a famous scuffle with Calloway he was fired but then joined up with the great piano master and composer Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines and his Orchestra. There he applied what he learned from others while looking to the future. Diz once said, “As a musician you have to keep one foot back in the past and have one foot forward into the future.” While working with Hines he began writing his own music and one of his most famous was written in 1942 called ‘A Night in Tunisia’ which still remains a jazz standard to this day. It was while playing with Hines and others where bebop was essentially born.

In 1942 Charlie Parker met Dizzy Gillespie when he also joined Earl Hines’ band. These two along with other young musicians such as guitarist Charlie Christian, pianist Thelonious Monk, drummer Kenny Clark among others began hanging out at Harlem clubs after their gigs. Legend has it that Parker began to reveal a new way of jazz improvising by playing outside the traditional scales of the key the song was composed. Parker reported that he developed this around 1939. Since there was a union recording ban in place from 1942 to 1944 due to a dispute over royalties, little of this earlier period is musically documented. 1945 would be the year that Bebop began to move jazz in a new direction which still continues to this day.

The first bebop recording of "Woody 'n' You" is said to have been recorded in 1944 in a session with Gillespie playing alongside Coleman Hawkins. In 1945 more recordings would hit the shelves on small record labels such as Prestige, De Lux, Continental and Guild. Gillespie recorded with many different bands with leaders such as Billy Eckstine and Clyde Hart. He recorded as a band leader in 1945 on the Manor label but his recordings for Guild became the famous sessions that would set many jazz standards for the future such as Groovin' High, All the Things You Are, Dizzy Atmosphere, Salt Peanuts, Lover Man, and Hothouse. He would go on to record with legends such as singer Sarah Vaughan and played alongside of Parker on his recordings on the Savoy label. All of these recordings in 1945 set the stage for the next year which bebop set the jazz world on fire.

As the jam sessions at places such as Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem became more popular and the recordings of Diz, Parker and others hit the stores, more musicians quickly gravitated towards bebop. Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Max Roach, J. J. Johnson, Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Erroll Garner, Art Farmer, Sonny Criss, Lucky Thompson, Hampton Hawes, Barney Kessel, Charles Mingus, Connie Kay, Ray Brown and Stan Levey and others were all part of the early bebop movement. Parker and Gillespie would record some of their most famous recordings beginning in 1946, and although not officially released until 1970, the Dial sessions recorded between Feb 5, 1946 to Dec 17, 1947 are essential listening. They allow us to hear many versions of bebop standards being played by Parker and Diz such as Moose the Mooche, Yardbird Suite, Ornithology and A Night in Tunisia.

Although Bebop is famous for its small combos such as trios, quartets and quintets, Gillespie did not shy away from also forming larger Bebop Orchestras. He was equally comfortable playing in a small combo with John Coltrane, Ray Brown, and Kenny Clarke as he was in his larger outfits which played Cuban Jazz which Gillespie loved and played for the rest of his life. Donald Maggin Author of ‘Dizzy: The Life and Times of John Birks Gillespie’ said, “He was the maker of two important revolutions in jazz. The first one was bebop and the second one was the Afro-Cuban revolution.” Gillespie worked with famous arrangers such as Tadd Dameron, Gil Fuller, and George Russell who all contributed to his big band ventures.

Gillespie would become famous for his fooling around during performances giving memorable concerts, dancing around the stage with his cheeks puffed out playing the trumpet earning his name ‘Dizzy’. His recording career officially spans the years of 1937 to 1992, an incredible 55 years. During this 55 year span he released as a band leader over 100 albums worth of music and as a sideman with countless musicians such as jazz legends Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Charles Mingus, Oscar Peterson, Sonny Stitt, and even many pop stars such as Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones and Chaka Kahn. His influence sprawled well beyond the confines of Jazz music.

Those who love Jazz music recognize that there are many of Gillespie’s recordings which are essential listening. His works with Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, and Roy Eldridge among his solo work are influential in the jazz world. Some recommended albums are, Bird and Diz, Diz and Getz, Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Side Up, Roy and Diz, Something Old Something New, Sittin In, The Ebullient Mr. Gillespie, Have Trumpet, Will Excite!, and New Wave.

What made Gillespie’s playing so unique? For one, the speed and unique rhythm at which he played was never equaled. He could hit the highest notes or lowest with such virtuosity that other trumpet players marveled at it. His phrasing was mind blowing and his consideration of the spaces between the notes were just as important as the notes themselves. He famously said, “The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.” Many attempted to imitate his playing and yet could never quite achieve it. So many of the trumpet legends who came after him such as Lee Morgan, Freddy Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw, Donald Byrd and Kenny Dorham among others chased after his sound and virtuosity, all getting their own sound by hearing his sound. This uniqueness is summed up well in an article on a website called jazz-music-history.com, Dizzy “created a new standard in trumpet virtuosity with his range and dramatic command of the instrument and his suppleness of rhythm, unevenly spaced phrases and complex, chromatically augmented runs played at breathtaking speed.”

Many want to know why Diz played a bent trumpet, which to this day stands out as his signature on stage. The story goes that he and some friends were playing around on stage one of which tripped and fell on the horn which was on a stand. This bent the horn and as Dizzy said, "that made him real mad." In the end however he tried to play it and so it went, he liked the sound because it projected upward and he could hear it better. From then on his famous image was one with a bent trumpet and those blown out cheeks.

Dizzy Gillespie was not only inspirational to so many musicians after him, he was also generous in sharing his knowledge. Musicians who play many different instruments continue to be influenced by him. In closing, Wynton Marsalis wrote, “His playing showcases the importance of intelligence. His rhythmic sophistication was unequaled. He was a master of harmony—and fascinated with studying it. He took in all the music of his youth—from Roy Eldridge to Duke Ellington—and developed a unique style built on complex rhythm and harmony balanced by wit. Gillespie was so quick-minded, he could create an endless flow of ideas at unusually fast tempo. Nobody had ever even considered playing a trumpet that way, let alone had actually tried. All the musicians respected him because, in addition to outplaying everyone, he knew so much and was so generous with that knowledge...” (Marsalis, Wynton; Ward, Geoffrey (2008). Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life. New York: Random House. ISBN 9781400060788.)