Rise of bebop
Bebop was known as the first modern jazz style, but was unpopular at its onset. In fact, bebop was not considered revolutionary at first, but was seen as an outgrowth of swing. Regardless, swing introduced a diversity of new musicians in the bebop era, such as Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, and Gillespie. Through these musicians, a new vocabulary of musical phrases was created. Parker's system also held methods of adding chords to existing chord progressions and implying additional chords within the improvised lines. With Parker, Gillespie performed at famous jazz clubs including Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House.
Gillespie compositions like "Groovin' High", "Woody 'n' You", and "Salt Peanuts" sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, from the swing popular at the time. "A Night in Tunisia", written in 1942 while Dizzy was with Earl Hines's band, is noted for its syncopated bass line—a feature common in today's music. "Woody 'n' You" was recorded in a session led by Coleman Hawkins with Gillespie as a featured sideman on February 16, 1944 (on Apollo Records), the first formal recording of bebop. Dizzy appeared in recordings by the Billy Eckstine band and started recording prolifically as a leader and sideman in early 1945. He was not content to let bebop sit in a niche of small groups in small clubs. A concert by one of his small groups in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945, presented bebop to a broad audience; recordings of it were released in 2005. He began organizing big bands in late 1945.
In December 1945, Dizzy Gillespie and his Bebop Six, which included Parker, started an extended gig at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Reception was mixed and the band broke up. In February 1946, Gillespie signed a contract with Bluebird Records, gaining the distribution power of RCA for his music. He and his big band headlined the 1946 film Jivin' in Be-Bop.
Following his work with Parker, Gillespie led other small combos (including ones with Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, James Moody, J. J. Johnson, and Yusef Lateef) and put together his successful big bands starting in 1947. Gillespie and his big bands, with arrangements provided by Tadd Dameron, Gil Fuller, and George Russell, popularized bebop and made him a symbol of the new music.
His big bands of the late 1940s also featured Cuban rumberos Chano Pozo and Sabu Martinez, sparking interest in Afro-Cuban jazz. Gillespie appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic.
Gillespie and his Bebop Orchestra was the featured star of the 4th Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, which was produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. on September 12, 1948. The young Gillespie had recently returned from Europe where his music was widely popular. The program description noted "the musicianship, inventive technique, and daring of this young man has created a new style, which can be defined as off the chord solo gymnastics." Also performing that day were Frankie Laine, Little Miss Cornshucks, The Sweethearts of Rhythm, the Honeydrippers, Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, the Blenders, and the Sensations.
In 1948, Gillespie was involved in a traffic accident when the bicycle he was riding was bumped by an automobile. He was slightly injured and found he could no longer hit the B-flat above high C. He won the case, but the jury awarded him only $1,000 in view of his high earnings up to that point.
In 1951, Gillespie founded his record label, Dee Gee Records; it closed in 1953.
On January 6, 1953, he threw a party for his wife Lorraine at Snookie's, a club in Manhattan, where his trumpet's bell was accidentally bent upward. However, he liked the sound so much he had a special trumpet made with a 45-degree raised bell, a customization that would become his trademark.
In 1956, Gillespie organized a band to travel on a State Department tour of the Middle East, which was well-received internationally and earned him the nickname "the Ambassador of Jazz". During this time, he also continued to lead a big band that performed throughout the United States and featured musicians including Pee Wee Moore and others. This band recorded a live album at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival that featured Mary Lou Williams as a guest artist on piano.
