Dizzy Gillespie Gillespie favored mouthpieces made by Al Cass. In December 1986 Gillespie gave the National Museum of American History his 1972 King "Silver Flair" trumpet with a Cass mouthpiece. In April 1995, Gillespie's Martin trumpet was auctioned at Christie's in New York City with instruments used by Coleman Hawkins, Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis Presley. An image of Gillespie's trumpet was selected for the cover of the auction program. The battered instrument was sold to Manhattan builder Jeffery Brown for $63,000, the proceeds benefiting jazz musicians with cancer. He was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The next year, at the Kennedy
Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968 is a renowned jazz musician; a type of music that is famous for its improvisational aspect. In a way this was how Mingus lived his life in that he seemed to take each day at a time. The clips of footage taken of Mingus playing with other musicians at the jazz club made it apparent how much he felt the music. The musicians were each individually talented but jazz is about the interaction and responses that occurs between them, and Mingus and the guys playing with him had that essential component. Jazz musicians of the 1950s such as Dizzy Gillespie,