"I'm Dizzy Gillespie of Cheraw, South Carolina" 

With this phrase Dizzy Gillespie often introduced himself at concerts around the world. Cheraw is where he is from – a small town of 3,500 inhabitants in rural South Carolina. John Birks Gillespie was born on October 21, 1917, as the ninth and last child of James and Lottie Gillespie.

His father was a brick mason and a local bandleader. They lived in poverty, but instruments were made available to Dizzy as a child. He started to play the piano at age four. His father died when he was only ten. At twelve he taught himself to play the trombone as well as the trumpet. He showed great talent with the trumpet, played with local bands and dreamed of becoming a jazz musician listening to Teddy Hill's orchestra and Roy Eldridge on NBC national radio.

Early recordings, from swing...

Dizzy stayed with Teddy Hill’s band for a year and toured Europe. After freelancing for a year he joined Cab Calloway’s orchestra (1939-1941), recording frequently, developing his style and starting to compose, also for other bandleaders like Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. In 1940 he married Lorraine Willis, who worked as a chorus dancer at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, with whom he lived for the rest of his life.

He was fired from Calloway’s band after a row late 1941. Calloway didn’t like Gillespie’s mischievous humour or adventuresome solos. He called it “Chinese music”. By then he had met Charlie Parker, who confirmed the validity of his musical search. During 1941-1943 he passed through many bands, including those led by Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Lucky Millinder and Duke Ellington.

Fifties... and the bent trumpet

Dizzy Gillespie popularized bebop and became a symbol of the new music in the late ‘40s. By 1950, the hype ended, and he was forced, due to economic pressures, to break up his orchestra. He had occasional reunions with Charlie Parker up until Bird’s death in 1955, he toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic and headed all-star recording sessions. In 1956 he was authorized to form a big band and play a tour overseas sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

It was successful and more world tours followed. By then he had his visual trademark, the “bent” trumpet. It was the result of an accidental damage caused by two dancers falling onto it while it was at a trumpet stand on a stage in January 1953. The bell bent upwards altered the tone of the instrument. Gillespie liked the effect. He had the trumpet straightened out the next day, but he couldn’t forget the tone. So he sent a request to Martin Committee to make him a “bent” trumpet from a sketch his wife made. From that time onward he played a trumpet with an upturned bell.

Faith and memoirs

In 1970, Dizzy Gillespie turned to the Bahá’í Faith, a religion that emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind. In the Bahá'í Faith, religious history has unfolded through a series of divine messengers, each of whom established a religion that was suited to the needs of the time. These messengers have included Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and others. According to the Bahá’í Faith, the need of the present time is for the gradual establishment of peace, justice and unity on a global scale.

According to author Nat Hentoff, who knew Gillespie for forty years, his faith helped him to make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying rough-neck to global citizen, and from alcohol to soul force. In 1979 Gillespie released his autobiography To Be or Not... to Bop, where he tells the story of his life and of black American music history.

Content of biography is presented here as it was published in 2012.

All pictures from the ceremony and banquet: © Polar Music Prize.

In memoriam Dizzy Gillespie, 1917–1993.