His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz.
on October 21, 1917, the youngest of nine children of James and Lottie Gillespie. 1940-1993)Īn American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who was one of the seminal figures of the bebop movement, Dizzy Gillespie was born in South Carolina, the U.S.
