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
Jazz in Belgium French speaking musicians and bands. The early 1950s in the United States was the period of cool (or west coast) jazz, more peaceful than bebop, and with a more outspoken interest in composition and arrangement. The Antwerp saxophonist Jack Sels became the leader of the "All Stars Bop Orchestra", inspired by the Afro-Cuban big bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton. Later, he would organize his "Jack Sels Chamber Music" band. In Paris, Sadi also started up his own big band, for which he composed and arranged. In jazz circles he was considered the best European vibraphonist, in the tradition