Dizzy Gillespie Gillespie left Eckstine's band because he wanted to play with a small combo. A "small combo" typically comprised no more than five musicians, playing the trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass and drums. Bebop was known as the first modern jazz style. However, it was unpopular in the beginning and was not viewed as positively as swing music was. Bebop was seen as an outgrowth of swing, not a revolution. Swing introduced a diversity of new musicians in the bebop era like Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, and Gillespie. Through these musicians, a new vocabulary of musical
Ray Abrams (musician) Ray Abrams (musician) Ray Abrams (January 23, 1920 – July 1992) was an American jazz and jump blues tenor saxophonist, born Ray Abramson in New York City. His younger brother was jazz drummer Lee Abrams. Ray Abrams first worked with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945, toured Europe with Don Redman in 1946 and was with Andy Kirk in 1947. He went back and forth between Kirk and Gillespie for decades. Outside of his work with Gillespie he might be best known for the "Ray Abrams Big Band." Other bands with which he played into the early 1950s include those of Hot