Born in Cheraw, North Carolina on October 21st, 1917, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie 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 learned the ropes, climbed the ladder and ventured out into new territory. He worked at transforming jazz into an art form inspired by music that had gone before and driven by a passion to shape the future.
