You may have noticed Google’s jazzy homepage today. It’s a celebration of Jazz Trumpet music and musician Dizzy Gillespie.
Today, in 1917, Dizzy Gillespie was born in South Carolina and had the jazz musician and pioneer not died of pancreatic cancer in 1993, in Englewood, New Jersey, Gillespie would be 93.
Gillespie’s trademark was his bent trumpet. Someone sat on his trumpet and he kept using it anyway. Dizzy Gillespie was born John Birks Gillespie and his music is a still a major reference in modern jazz and its development.
Gillespie's music is a major reference in the development of modern jazz
Most people think of expansive cheeks and the trumpet when they visualize Dizzy Gillespie. But Gillespie was also interested in politics. In 1964, Gillespie ran for president. His platform was the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam and the advancement of African American astronauts into space missions. Gillespie also wanted to rename the White House, the “Blues House.”
Gillespie played with bands in Philly from 1935 to 1937 and moved to NYC where he earned the nickname “Dizzy” for his unpredictably funny behavior. Dizzy Gillespie was only 19 when his jazz trumpet musician reputation hit New York.
Gillespie has earned notable awards over the years. In 1944, he earned a New Star Award from Esquire magazine. In 1989, the jazz player also earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Recording Arts and Science’s Grammy Award Ceremonies. That year, George Bush honored Gillespie with the National Medal of Arts.
In 1989 Gilliespie gave 300 performances in 27 countries. In 1990, he was honored at the Kennedy Center where he won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ Duke Award for 50 years of achievement.
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