Written By: Steve Futterman
John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, who would have celebrated his 103rd birthday on Oct. 21, was the very model of the modern American musical genius: a brilliant instrumentalist and stylistic innovator, he was also an extroverted performer with a wicked sense of humor.
One of the primary creators of bebop in the mid-1940s and an unparalleled trumpeter, Dizzy was a populist who wanted his music to be understood, appreciated and enjoyed. Audiences may have associated him with signature visual clues the beret and goatee he sported in the 1940s, and the trumpet with the upturned bell he began playing in the 1950s and adored his onstage clowning and dancing, but anyone with ears could tell how seriously he always took the music. An international star until his death on January 6, 1993 (the same day as Rudolph Nureyev), Gillespie was as fervently respected by fellow musicians, as he was beloved by generations of listeners.
A spread by LIFE photographer Allan Grant in our October 11, 1948 issue, during bebop’s glory days. Conspicuous in his absence is Charlie Parker, the avatar of bebop, and the man whom Dizzy called “the other side of my heartbeat,” but Gillespie’s vivacious personality was far more palatable to the mainstream. To see this magnificent musician in his youth, ready to convince the world that the music he and his not-yet-understood peers were making was the sound of the future, is still a glorious thing to behold.
Steve Futterman is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer.
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie greeting fellow musician Benny Carter, 1948.
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie. 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Crooner Mel (Velvet Fog) Torme happily bites on his finger while he and a model, June Bright, watch Dizzy Gillespie (reflected in mirror), 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Drummer Chano Pozo, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Actress Ava Gardner dons beret and specs and pretends to wear goatee at Billy Berg’s Hollywood nightclub as Dizzy (left) grins.
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie signing autographs, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
Dizzy Gillespie, 1948
Allan Grant / The LIFE Picture Collection
