Dizzy Gillespie remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time". The youngest of nine children of James and Lottie Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. His father was a local bandleader, so instruments were made available to the children. Gillespie started to play the piano at the age of four. Gillespie's father died when he was only ten years old. He taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve. From the night he heard his idol, Roy Eldridge, on the radio,
Bob Carter (musician) Bob Carter (musician) Robert Kahakalau, better known as Bob Carter (February 11, 1922 – August 1, 1993) was an American jazz bassist and arranger. Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1922, Carter learned bass and guitar from his father, a vaudeville performer of Hawaiian heritage. He played in local orchestras from 1937 to 1940, toured from 1940 to 1942 and worked with his own trio in Boston in 1944. In 1944-45 he worked in various groups on 52nd Street in New York City, with Tony Scott, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Stuff Smith, and Charlie Shavers among others. Following time spent