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John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was born in Cheraw, SC on October 21, 1917. Gillespie, who some would say was the greatest jazz trumpeter of all time, was a very complex player with a unique style of music. Unlike some musicians, he was an excellent teacher and very willing to write down his musical innovations, which enabled people after him to continue to play Bebop.

"Those who wanted to learn more about this music and to widen his skills, went to Dizzy's house", Benny Carter knew to explain the influence to Bebop by Dizzy Gillespie. In his career of 60 years, the trumpeter played with a wide range of famous musicians such as Sonny Stitt, Max Roach and John Lewis. He performed a lot of live-acts during his world-tours with his own bands and composed classics of the modern jazz like "A Night In Tunisia" and "Salt Peanuts". In addition to these achievements, Dizzy Gillespie became honorary doctor at the Rutgers-University in 1970, published his own biography "To Be Or Not To Bop" in 1979. Until his last days he was seen and heard with his United Nations Orchestra.

On January 6th, 1993 Dizzy Gillespie died with the age of 75 years.

         

(Source: JazzThing)