Monday, October 25, 2010

Google Doodle remembers Dizzy Gillespie and his face

The current Google Doodle celebrates what would be the 93rd birthday of jazz trumpeter Birks Gillespie. Gillespie passed away in 1993 at the age of 75. In truth, followers knew him as “Dizzy” Gillespie, whose cheeks exploded outward as the trumpet sounded its call. Gillespie had style, grace and the high-octane trumpet that lifted bebop into the stratosphere of American’s jazz. Visit Google.com and learn about an icon of American music.

Bebop helped music with Dizzy Gillespie’s face

The face on Dizzy Gillespie is what numerous recall about him. Nevertheless, bebop became popular because he could control the trumpet at such a breakneck tempo. In the 1940s, bebop became successful and popular because of pianist Thelonious Monk, saxophonist Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. The things remembered about these individuals are the eighth-note runs throughout the range of the instrument, a mix of improvisation harmonic and melodic, and also the use of vertical improvisation which goes via the scales vertically instead of the tradition horizontal scales.

The name “bebop” has numerous suggested origins, but Gillespie attributed it to his scat singing, where nonsense syllables are strung together in a wordless vocal solo that mimics the sound of a musical instrument. Wikipedia explains that when requesting a scat piece, Gillespie had an audience coin the term. The term “scat” was not well known. It was not popular yet.

Dizzy Gillespie has the greatest cheeks

Dizzy Gillespie’s cheeks have many tales to go along with them. Gillespie started some of these tales too. Numerous assume that the face had some form of muscular damage because he played the trumpet so often. He cheeks expand abnormally when he is plying due to it.

Musicians influenced by Dizzy Gillespie and the cheeks

Wynton Marsalis is ajazz trumpeter who said that Dizzy Gillespie is, reports the Los Angeles Times, “a great dancer, teacher, wit and spiritual presence.”. It is this grace and personality, also as the highest degree of skill and artistic flair with the trumpet, that has earned Dizzy Gillespie and cheeks a spot alongside musicians, artists and architects like Igor Stravinsky, Isaac AlbĂ©niz, Frida Kahlo, Wayne Thiebaud and Josef Franck as a Google Doodle.

Data from

LA Times

latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/10/google-honors-jazz-great-dizzy-gillespie-with-doodle.html

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop

Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra (featuring “Chano” Pozo), 1947 – “Manteca”

youtube.com/watch?v=s74NlRy-ibs



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