Dizzy: The Life and Times of John Birks Gillespie (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "John Birks "DIZZY" GILLESPIE ALMOST VOMITED FROM exhaustion as he picked cotton for the first time outside his hometown of Cheraw, South Carolina, in the..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It's been 60 years since Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Kenny Clarke, and a handful of other bebop pioneers reinvented the art of jazz improvisation, and in those six decades, Parker--thanks to both his virtuosity and his premature heroin-induced death--has achieved near-mythic status in the minds of jazz lovers. Maggin, in this long-overdue, full-dress biography, reestablishes Gillespie's premier role in not one but two jazz revolutions--the bebop movement and the development of Latin jazz. He capably traces Gillespie's life from its beginnings in the racist South of the 1920s through the trumpeter's musical internship in various big bands, and on to his emergence, with Parker, in New York's Fifty-second Street nightclubs as the standard-bearer of what was then known as modern jazz. Equally important, Maggin gives plenty of space to Gillespie's signature work with his own big band--not a format favored by most beboppers--and his continual evolution over a 57-year career. It isn't all flatted fifths and rhythmic innovation, however; the full force of Gillespie's mercurial personality shines throughout this important contribution to American musical history. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

Dizzy Gillespie secured his place in the jazz pantheon as one of the most expressive and virtuosic improvisers in the history of music. More important is that he was one of its great innovators. As a primary creator of the bebop and Afro-Cuban revolutions, he twice changed the way improvisation was fundamentally done. And by combining electrifying musicianship, infectious warmth, and rare comedic skills, he achieved a worldwide popularity few jazz musicians have ever enjoyed.

This is the enthralling saga of Dizzy Gillespie -- a chronicle of the rise of a jazz genius from the lowest rung of the social order to the highest pinnacle of respect and ability that brings Harlem's golden after-hours era, the raucous 52nd Street scene, of the forties, the barrios of Havana and Rio, the White House, and the world's great concert halls to glorious life.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment; illustrated edition edition (March 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688170889
• ISBN-13: 978-0688170882
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,124,337 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Birks, April 10, 2005

By	C. R. Price "Don't blow but I'm a fan" (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is by far the most revealing (because best researched), most fascinating, and best written biography about Dizzy Gillespie and his times yet available. Uniquely informative musical explanations of Dizzy's contribitions to be-bop and his use of Afro-Cuban elements in jazz, propelling that music from the Swing Era into jazz of today and tomorrow. Also presents the social and historical context of Dizzy's story, from cotton picking in Cheraw,SC to world renown and jazz immortality. Only thing not explained, because it's unexplainable: how and why he was gifted with and then powerfully developed such prodigious talent -- the Mozart of jazz!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, But No Surprises, June 20, 2005

By	Bruce Epperson (Fort Lauderdale, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Obviously, the two books to compare this work with are Dizzy's own 1979 "To Be or Not to Bop" and Alyn Shipton's 1999 "Groovin' High." Dizzy's book was a disjointed, subjective, sometimes annoying, but deeply insightful oral history. Shipton's book was a straightforward bio that attempted to avoid the "he recorded this, then he recorded that" syndrome by alternating chronological chapters with evaluations of the recordings available from each period in the previous chapter. A good idea, but a lack of specific enough information as to recording dates, locations and labels defeated the purpose.

You won't miss anything if you choose either Maggin's or Shipton's book. Shipton covers the pre-bop/pre WW II period more, while Maggin gives a deeper discussion of Dizzy's incredibly fertile late 50's and early 60's period. If you are not one hundred percent sure what bop is, or why Charlie Parker or Theloneous Monk are so important, Maggin's book is better, because he breaks the story to explain these points without being patronizing. He does start to dip into the "recorded this, recorded that" syndrome in the latter decades of Dizzy's life, but it doesn't get really bad. Overall, Maggin's book reads a little smoother, a little better. What surprises me the most is that during the six years between Shipton's and Maggin's book, absolutely nothing new seems to have come out, not even in the ongoing legal dispute over royalties between Dizzy's widow Lorraine and jazz vocalist Jeanne Bryson, who claims to be his daughter by another woman. (Both Shipton and Maggin conclude that more probably than not, she is.)

In any case, read either Shipton's book or Maggin's. Then, once you know the basic whos, whats, wheres and whens, beg, borrow or let yourself get ripped off for a used copy of Diz's own autobiography, which is where the REAL fun is!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It was the women in his life, July 27, 2005

By	Tom Bruce (Brooklyn , NY) - See all my reviews

Dizzy Gillespie was truly blessed. Not only with an amazing talent and the ability that allowed him to grasp and expand on the concepts of harmony and rhythm, but by the women in his life who made his success possible. It began with his mother, who after the death of Dizzy's abusive dad when the boy was only 9, worked long, hard hours as a seamstress, laundress, and house cleaner to provide for her children. Then there was Dizzy's third grade teacher who realized he had special talent and encouraged his musicality and eventually recruited him for the school band. Next it was a student nurse at the Laurinberg Institute, who lobbied for his admission to the Institute that was noted for its two commercial bands and where Dizzy got a first-class musical education. There was the daughter of the Institute's owners who, in her free time, taught Dizzy the intricacies of the piano. This became an important instrument to Dizzy's success, as he was now able to work out new and challenging harmonies at the keyboard. And further, because of his ability to play piano and read music, he was one of the few be-boppers of his generation who was able to chart the music they were creating, without which much of the music probably would not have survived. Finally came sweet Lorraine, whom Dizzy met in 1937 at a time when he was only able to obtain occasional band work. After their meeting, Dizzy hit financial bottom, and when Lorraine discovered him begging for money for food, she began to help him. Soon they moved in together and were married within three years, and until the end of his life, 53 years later, she provided support and financial stability. Dizzy was a spendthrift who would have kept the family broke if Lorraine had not stepped in and taken over the finances of both Dizzy and his bands. And Dizzy was constantly surrounded by addictive and illegal substances that Lorraine kept at bay. Author Maggin follows Dizzy's life as he progresses from swing music to the small cadre of instrumentalists who created the new form of jazz, be bop. This modernistic approach to jazz was first derided by critics and audiences alike, but eventually, as listeners became accustomed to the somewhat cacophonic sound, be bop supplanted swing in popularity. To this new creation, Dizzy added Afro-Cuban sounds to start another musical revolution. Some of Dizzy's contemporaries took the music even further with fusion and free styles, but in 1949, Dizzy began to realize that his music had gone too far when he bemoaned, "The trouble with bop as it is played today is that people can't dance to it," and he reigned in his horn to earn acclaim and wealth for the rest of his life. Maggin does a superb job of explaining the intricate changes from swing to be bop to Afro-Cuban as he relates the development of this new music. He gives us interesting comments along with mini-bios on the musicians involved, many of them superstars, who worked in and around Dizzy's big bands and small groups. From time to time he slips into "and then he recorded" modes, but he sprinkles in enough colorful material to make them painless. He even lets us know when Dizzy recorded a clunker, as he often did when he tried to appeal to rock audiences in the 1960s. It would have been helpful if Maggin had created a glossary of musical terms, as I found myself returning to earlier pages to refresh myself on how he explained technical concepts such as diatonic harmony and flatted fifths. This is a happy book about a giant of a man who brought joy to others while exalting in his own life. From a lad picking cotton to an ambassador of good will playing "Salt Peanuts" with President Jimmy Carter, Gillespie had a magical ride and Maggin takes us along every joyous step of the way in this well-researched, organized, and comprehensive biography.