Book Review: To be or not…To Bop, Dizzy Gillespie with Al Fraser (Doubleday, 1979)
A playlist based on significant events in the book can be found on here on Spotify
John Birks ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie is foundational to jazz music. Widely regarded, in tandem with Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker, as the inventor of bebop, Gillespie changed how players played, listeners listened, and dancers danced to music. His autobiography takes the reader on a lyrical journey that tells the tale of the man and the musical movement he spawned. Gillespie’s first-hand accounts are interspersed with stories written by dozens of his contemporaries from the jazz pantheon – Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Miles Davis, and Roy Eldridge to name a few.
(AP Photo/Frank C. Curtin)
Dizzy Gillespie, as household name and popular figure, was best known for his inflated cheeks and his trumpet’s turned up bell. These stylistic markers were iconic but superficial in the greater context of his contribution to music. His historical and musical significance is forever entwined with bebop, an evolution of jazz characterized by fast tempo, complex chord progressions, and numerous key changes in a much more compressed form than jazz performance and composition had historically expressed. One might also argue that without bebop, there would be no hip hop. Quincy Jones writes in his own autobiography (Doubleday, 2001) that he sees echos of his generation’s affinity to bebop in today’s hip hop community.
Gillespie’s book expounds on the origins of bebop, his relationship to Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, and how the three of them became the vanguard of jazz’ transformation in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Better than an academic treatise of what bebop really is, you can read story upon story as told by the likes of Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Max Roach, Billy Eckstine, and Gillespie himself on why and how bebop was new and different. One such passage by American saxophonist Budd Johnson surmises the origin of the term, ‘bebop.’
“…Dizzy would be trying to explain something or show you how to play it, he would hum it to you. And he would say, ‘no, no, it goes like this – ump-de-be-de-bop-be-bop-be-bop-be-doo-dop-de-de-bop.’ So they would come up to Dizzy and say, ‘Hey, play some more of that bebop music.'”
Budd Johnson
“Undanceable” was another label applied to Gillespie’s music in the early days of bebop. Post-war, Americans were in the mood to dance but bebop was a form of concert jazz played by “young, crazy cats,” proclaims Gillespie. He recalls a gig where the promoter, unimpressed by what he heard, offered to give Dizzy some money so he could buy some stock arrangements of popular tunes of the day. Dizzy rebuffed in character, “Man, I got money to go downtown and buy some stocks, if I wanna buy some stock arrangements…I don’t want no stock!”
Dizzy the man was sassy, convivial, and scrappy. There are numerous accounts of run-ins with unsavoury characters and brushes with injury or worse. On a tour to the South in 1955, Gillespie took his band to perform as part of the Jazz at the Philharmonic series, an effort to popularize jazz as a serious art form, migrating from nightclub to concert hall. On the tour’s Houston stop, there was an element in the local police force unhappy with a band playing to mixed race audiences, something Gillespie insisted on and promoter Norman Granz supported. That night, between sets, the band killed time by played craps in Ella Fitzgerald’s dressing room. Suddenly, plainclothes policemen raided the room, took the cash for themselves, and hauled everyone off to jail. Cheekily, when the police asked his name, Gillespie replied, “Louis Armstrong.” They were eventually released. Dizzy would not let the incident go, hiring lawyers to right the wrong that had been committed that night and winning in court. A galling postscript to the story: one of the arresting officers had the nerve to ask Fitzgerald for her autograph while she was being held.
In 1963, after the March on Washington, Gillespie was unsatisfied with the political status quo. Egged on by fans, he took up the cause to run for President of the United States. His platform was simple – Voting rights, Abolish income tax, Dissolve the FBI, and Legalize the ‘numbers’ racquet. Serious as he was, he kept the masses wondering with tongue-in-cheek pledges such as putting Miles Davis in charge of the CIA and replacing all foreign ambassadors with jazz musicians [author supports that last one]. In the end, he almost got on the State ballot in California.
Dizzy Gillespie was a long-standing member of the Baha’i faith. He was married to Lorraine Willis for 53 years, until his death in 1993. He credits Lorraine with keeping him straight and managing his business affairs. “Without her, I wouldn’t have a quarter.”
Annotated Playlist (Open in Spotify)
This playlist draws from references Gillespie makes in the book to recordings and events that struck me as particularly consequential to his musical journey. There are many more references in the book, including a voluminous selected discography. My playlist closes with a few of my personal favourites, starting with a cover of Joe Cuba’s “Bang Bang.”
- After You’ve Gone, Roy Eldridge – Roy Eldridge was the trumpeter that Dizzy admired and emulated as a young musician. They would eventually record an album together, Roy and Diz (Clef, 1954)
- Ain’t Misbehavin’, Fatts Waller – Fatts was Dizzy’s idol. He writes, “The bridge in Ain’t Misbehavin’. Where did he get that from?…That’s some hip shit. I haven’t heard anything in music since that’s more hip, harmonically and logically.”
- King Porter Stomp, Dizzy Gillespie – His first recording, made with Teddy’s Hill band in 1937
- Stompin’ at Savoy, Dizzy Gillespie – Dizzy played with the Savoy Sultans, the house band of this famed venue
- The Honeydripper, Alberto Socarras – The cuban bandleader hired Dizzy for his band and recounts, “It was easy for Diz to go between American music and Cuban music…Dizzy’s solos were very nice, very cubanlike.”
- Cuban Nightmare, Tito Puente – Not a Gillespie recording but a tune he played while in Cab Calloway’s band, noting, he “tore up” the number.
- Hot Mallets, Lionel Hampton – Dizzy described his style on this record as close to Roy Eldridge’s.
- Bye Bye Blues, Cab Calloway – His style still developing, Gillespie’s playing starts to break away from his Eldridge influence.
- Algo Bueno (Woody’n You), Dizzy Gillespie – Influenced by Thelonious Monk to use a minor sixth chord, Dizzy wrote this tune and used a similar chord in the intro he wrote to Monk’s classic, Round Midnight
- Round Midnight, Dizzy Gillespie – From the Giants of Jazz in Berlin ’71 recording, featuring the intro penned by Gillespie
- Little John Special, Lucky Millinder – Dizzy played in Millinder’s band in 1942 and recorded this number, which he credits as a rhythmic influence to one of his best known compositions, Salt Peanuts
- Goodnight My Love, Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb – Dizzy started writing arrangements on commission to earn some money between gigs. This was the first he did for a big band.
- Pickin’ the Cabbage, Cab Calloway – An early composition of Gillespie’s written for Cab Calloway’s band in 1940. Elements of this song would later be used in his future hits, Manteca and Nights in Tunisia
- Rosetta, Earl Hines – Dizzy and Charlie Parker became close while in Hines’ band in 1942. This was a theme tune for that band.
- Red Cross, Charlie Parker – A tune Parker wrote and recorded in the hotel room of engineer Bob Redcross when Bird and Dizzy were playing at the Savoy together.
- Max is Making Wax, Charlie Parker – Arranged by Dizzy, some deemed it “undanceable” because it was so far out from conventional rhythms and arrangements of the day.
- Things to Come, Dizzy Gillespie – The fastest tempo Gillespie’s band had played to date, trying to outdo Woody Herman’s band in 1945.
- Lady by Good, Ella Fitzgerald – Fitzgerald credits Gillespie with inspiring her to take risks. Indeed, her scatting on this tune skews a little zany.
- St. Louis Blues, Dizzy Gillespie – Gillespie’s recording of this classic was arranged by Bud Johnson on Dizzy’s behest. Write’s Johnson, “I had everything in it. I had dissonance and a lot of movement and Dizzy loved it.” When W.C. Handy, the original composer of the tune, heard Dizzy’s version, he didn’t want the record company to release it because it was so unlike his original tune.
- Manteca, Dizzy Gillespie – Chano Pozo was a congo player that brought Dizzy to Afro-Cuban music and its complex polyrhythms. Pozo wrote this tune and Dizzy wrote the bridge.
- Tin Tin Deo, Dizzy Gillespie – This was one of the first recordings for Gillespie’s own label, Dee Gee Records, formed in 1951. John Coltrane happened to be one of the studio musicians in this recording session.
- Rio Pakistan, Dizzy Gillespie – In 1956, attempting to curb the spread of communism, the US State Department arranged an international tour of jazz musicians as ambassadors of American culture abroad. Gillespie was inspired to write this tune after spending time with staff musicians at Radio Pakistan. Quincy Jones happened to be on the same tour.
- Tangorine, Dizzy Gillespie – Influenced by trip to South America and the music of the Tango, Gillespie wrote this tune in 1957.
- Gillespiana Suite, Dizzy Gillespie – Written by famed composer and bandleader Lalo Schifrin on Dizzy’s commission. Schifrin, a successful musician in his native Argentina, came to and remained in the US because of the opportunity to work with Gillespie.
- Bang Bang, Dizzy Gillespie
- Unicorn, Dizzy Gillespie & Lalo Schifrin
- Incantation, Dizzy Gillespie & Lalo Schifrin
- Umbrella Man, Dizzy Gillespie
- Salt Peanuts, Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker
- Night in Tunisia, Dizzy Gillespie
Further Viewing
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