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
Luke Gillespie Luke Gillespie Luke Gillespie (born April 16, 1957) is an American jazz and classical pianist. Born in Kyoto, Japan, Gillespie grew up in Osaka. He attended Canadian Academy, an international school in Kobe, Japan. He lived in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1st grade, and Memphis, TN, in 6th grade. Returning to the USA for college, Gillespie majored in Music Performance at Indiana University, studying Jazz and Classical Piano, Music History and Comparative Arts and Literature. He studied classical piano with Yoshiko Sato, a professor at Osaka College of Music from age 8-18. He also studied both jazz (bachelor's and master's