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Part II: Jazz Greats and Great Jazz: An Evolutionary Riff
Figure 7-2:
Dizzy
Gillespie
played in
many big
bands of the
1940s.
Gillespie’s peers dubbed him “Dizzy” for his madcap antics on and off stage.
He told jokes, made clownish faces, threw an occasional spitball during practice,
and, in the 1950s, began using a trumpet with its bell bent upward as if
sending sound toward the heavens.
©William P. Gottlieb, www.jazzphotos.com
Gillespie’s early influence was trumpeter Roy Eldridge, but by the mid-1940s,
with Parker, Gillespie developed a personal sound distinguished by many
characteristics:
� Dizzying speed
� Dramatic dives from high notes to low
� Alternating clear and slurred notes
� Alternative chords for familiar songs
� New tunes composed over the chords of popular songs
Gillespie wrote some of bebop’s signature songs (including “Hot House,”
“A Night in Tunisia,” “Groovin’ High,” and “Salt Peanuts”). He was also one of
the first jazz players to add Latin rhythms (through associations with bandleader
Machito, Cuban composer/arranger Mario Bauza, and Cuban percussionist
Chano Pozo; see the nearby sidebar “Bebop’s Cuban connections”).