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In 1943 I heard the great Earl Hines band which had Bird in it and all those other great musicians. At his Selective Service interview, he told the local board, 'in this stage of my life here in the United States whose foot has been in my ass?' and 'So if you put me out there with a gun in my hand and tell me to shoot at the enemy, I'm liable to create a case of 'mistaken identity' of who I might shoot.' He was classified 4-F. He then freelanced with a few bands, most notably Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra, composed of members of the Chick Webb's band. ĭuring his time in Calloway's band, Gillespie started writing big band music for Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. A few days later, Gillespie tried to apologize to Calloway, but he was dismissed. After the two were separated, Calloway fired Gillespie. Calloway had minor cuts on the thigh and wrist. Gillespie stabbed Calloway in the leg with a knife. Already in a foul mood, Calloway blamed Gillespie, who refused to take the blame. During rehearsal, someone in the band threw a spitball. According to Jones, Calloway referred to it as 'Chinese music'. Calloway disapproved of Gillespie's mischievous humor and his adventuresome approach to soloing. The incident is recounted by Gillespie and Calloway's band members Milt Hinton and Jonah Jones in Jean Bach's 1997 film, The Spitball Story. After an altercation between the two, Calloway fired Gillespie in late 1941. He recorded one of his earliest compositions, 'Pickin' the Cabbage', with Calloway in 1940. In 1939, with the help of Willis, Gillespie joined Cab Calloway's orchestra. Gillespie stayed with Teddy Hill's band for a year, then left and freelanced with other bands. Willis was not immediately friendly but Gillespie was attracted anyway. In August 1937 while gigging with Hayes in Washington D.C., Gillespie met a young dancer named Lorraine Willis who worked a Baltimore–Philadelphia–New York City circuit which included the Apollo Theater. Teddy Hill's band was where Gillespie made his first recording, 'King Porter Stomp'.

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Gillespie's first professional job was with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra in 1935, after which he joined the respective orchestras of Edgar Hayes and later Teddy Hill, replacing Frankie Newton as second trumpet in May 1937. He won a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina which he attended for two years before accompanying his family when they moved to Philadelphia in 1935.

From the night he heard his idol, Roy Eldridge, on the radio, he dreamed of becoming a jazz musician.

#Birks works trombone position chart how to#

He taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve. Gillespie's father died when he was only ten years old. Gillespie started to play the piano at the age of four. His father was a local bandleader, so instruments were made available to the children. The youngest of nine children of Lottie and James Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up being similar to those of Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time'. Scott Yanow wrote, 'Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. He pioneered Afro-Cuban jazz and won several Grammy Awards. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Chuck Mangione, and balladeer Johnny Hartman. In the 1940s, Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality have made him an enduring icon. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz.

John Birks ' Dizzy' Gillespie ( / ɡ ɪ ˈ l ɛ s p i/ gil- ESP-ee Octo– January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer.