Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993), born John Birks Gillespie in Cheraw, South Carolina, was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer. In the 1940s he and Charlie Parker shaped bebop, and from 1947 he brought Cuban rhythm into jazz with conga player Chano Pozo. He is also remembered for his trumpet with the bell bent upward at 45 degrees. Gillespie wrote A Night in Tunisia, Groovin' High and Salt Peanuts, and co-wrote Manteca and Tin Tin Deo with Pozo. His big bands from 1947 used arrangements by Tadd Dameron, Gil Fuller and George Russell.