Dizzy Gillespie

Innovator of bebop and Afro-Cuban jazz.

Founded

October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina

Full Name

John Birks Gillespie

Date of Birth

October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina

Still Alive

Date of Death

January 6, 1993 in Englewood, New Jersey

Influenced By

Roy Eldridge, Mary Lou Williams, Duke Ellington, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Machito, Mario Bauzá

Later Influenced

BeBop, Afro-Latin Jazz, Miles Davis, Arturo Sandoval, Chuck Mangione

Dizzy Gillespie, New York, NY circa May 1947

About The artist

"He was the maker of two important revolutions in jazz. The first one was bebop and the second one was the Afro-Cuban revolution."
Donald Maggin, Author, "Dizzy: The Life and Times of John Birks Gillespie"

Did you know...

Dizzy put himself forward as a write-in candidate for the 1964 presidential election. His proposed cabinet included Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis (Director of the CIA), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), and Malcolm X (Attorney General).