Dizzy Gillespie Watrous describes his performance style: Wynton Marsalis summed up Gillespie as a player and teacher: Gillespie's trademark trumpet featured a bell which bent upward at a 45-degree angle rather than pointing straight ahead as in the conventional design. According to Gillespie's autobiography, this was originally the result of accidental damage caused by the dancers Stump and Stumpy falling onto the instrument while it was on a trumpet stand on stage at Snookie's in Manhattan on January 6, 1953, during a birthday party for Gillespie's wife Lorraine. The constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie
Renato Sellani Renato Sellani Renato Sellani (8 January 1926 – 31 October 2014) was an Italian jazz pianist and composer. Born in Senigallia, Sellani started his professional career in 1954, when he entered the Basso-Valdambrini Quintet. In 1958 he started a long collaboration with his longtime friend Franco Cerri. He was part of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra directed by Gorni Kramer. As a pianist, he collaborated with Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, Dizzie Gillespie, Lee Konitz, Bill Coleman, Gerry Mulligan, Enrico Rava and Tony Scott, among others. Sellani was an incidental music composer for stage plays, and his works include several scores