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..
Without his influence, there might be a music called Jazz but it would not be what it is. Louis Armstrong was told and he believed that he was born on July 4, 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz is America's gift to the rest of the world and our only native art form. The most influential jazz musician should have been born on America's birthday at the turn of the century.