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
Marino Marini (musician) six months, meeting Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Kenton and Charlie Ventura. American jazz was also a formative influence. On his return, Marini wrote music for films and revues and played in cabaret in Rome and Naples. In 1954, he placed a newspaper advert seeking “young musicians without experience, singing in tune. If not cheerful, don't apply." From the many applicants he chose Gaetano “Totò” Savio (guitar), Sergio (drums) and Ruggero Cori (bass and vocal) for a quartet, Marini playing piano and occasionally singing solo. This quartet played together from 1954 to 1960, a period regarded as the Marino Marini Quartet’s most