John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality have made him an enduring icon.

Born in Cheraw, North Carolina in 1917, Dizzy was the youngest of 9 children. His father, a bandleader, died when Dizzy was 10. The youngster taught himself trombone and trumpet and earned a scholarship to The Laurinburg Institution. By the time of his family's move to Philadelphia in 1935, Dizzy was set on a path to transform modern music. During the following decade, he developed his repertoire, absorbed and mastered Latin rhythms, founded his own orchestra and ventured out into new territory. He and his close associates Charlie Parker and Bud Powell worked at transforming jazz into an art form inspired by music that had gone before and driven by a passion to shape the future.  Dizzy would eventually lead State Department tours around the world, run for President of the United States and win a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.