Dizzy Gillespie for the Performing Arts. In 2014, Gillespie was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and singer. Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks, and his light-hearted
Luke Gillespie degrees with David Baker) and classical piano (master's and doctor's degrees with Michel Block and Leonard Hokanson, a student of Artur Schnabel) at Indiana University School of Music. Gillespie is an active performer of jazz and classical piano music. He also teaches at various jazz camps, and jazz festivals around the country. Gillespie has been the recipient of many prestigious awards such as best performance from the Indianapolis Star in 1993, the 1990 Copland Piano Concerto Competition winner at Indiana University, and the 1994 Indianapolis Jazz Festival Competition award. He has recorded with the Arts Center Jazz Collective, David Baker,