2. uncountable noun [oft in NOUN] Distress is the state of being in extreme danger and needing urgent help. He expressed concern that the ship might be in distress. The constable received a distress call, and saw two youths attacking his colleague. Synonyms: danger, risk, difficulty, peril More Synonyms of distress.
But Dizzy Gillespie -- born John Birks Gillespie in Cheraw, S.C., on Oct. 21, 1917 -- saw himself primarily as a player. I always thought I was a musician, he told Musician magazine's Chip Stern a year ago. Thought I was a musician before I really was a musician..
Gillespie joined the Earl Fatha Hines band in 1942, about the same time Charlie Parker (1920â1955) did. Although Parker became famous as an alto saxophonist, he was playing tenor sax at that time. Gillespie first met Parker in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1940 when he was on tour with Cab Calloway.