John Birks 'Dizzy' Gillespie

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was born in South Carolina in 1917 and died in 1993. He was a jazz trumpet player, bandleader and composer. He received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. He was one of the pioneers in bebop and had performed in Minton’s Playhouse and Monroe’s Uptown House. He worked with Charlie Parker in 1945, and performed in New York and Los Angeles. After the Los Angeles performance in December 1945, Gillespie returned to New York and Parker stayed in Los Angeles. His songs include “Salt Peanuts,” “A Night in Tunisia,” and “Groovin’ High,” among others. “No Dancing” started with Gillespie’s experience with Ellington and his bands. According to Eckstine, the audiences may not have any ideas what they just heard, but Gillespie could explain what he played for days. In the song “Woody ‘n You” consisted with minor-sixth chords with dominant that was under the influences of Monk. The feeling …show more content…
Gillespie played with unusual but good harmony with extreme fast tempo that led the audience thought jazz musicians were not only entertainers but they were professional musicians. Before bebop, big bands were played with a commercial purpose, but when Gillespie and his bands played virtuously, it grabbed public’s attention and dance floor became the tables and seats.
I liked reading these two chapters. The chapter “No Dancing” included Billy Eckstine’s, Sarah Vaughan’s, Art Blakey’s, and Budd Johnson’s words that give the readers a chance to see how others thought of Gillespie and how Gillespie influenced them. I like how Gillespie concluded the chapter “No Dancing.” He said they weren’t playing whatever they wanted to play, they knew the fundamental, they knew they theory, and once they knew it, they could break it. I found it interesting that the words were not edited at all in the chapter of “The