To Be or Not to Bop To Be or Not to Bop To Be or Not to Bop: Memoirs of Dizzy Gillespie is a 1979 book written by jazz musician, composer and band leader Dizzy Gillespie. The book was released in July 1979 by Doubleday. The University of Minnesota Press re-released the book in 2009. He is known for being the father of bebop. This book tells about his life, and what he went through to make this music flourish. The book introduces Dizzy and his friends like Charlie "Bird" Parker as they struggled to make money by playing. Later on it tells of how Dizzy
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is a 1963 studio album featuring John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. Although it is often reported that Coltrane and Hartman had known each other since their days playing with Dizzy Gillespie's band in the late 1940s, the truth is that their time in the band never overlapped. Coltrane might have heard Hartman sing at a 1950 Apollo Theater performance at which they shared the stage. Hartman is the only vocalist with whom the saxophonist would record as a leader.