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
John Lee (musician) Mouzon, Claudio Roditi, Jon Faddis, Slide Hampton, Roy Hargrove, and Roberta Gambarini. Lee was also a founding member of The Fantasy Band 1993-1996 with Chuck Loeb, Marion Meadows, and Dave Samuels. In 1996, at the bequest of Dizzy's wife Lorraine Gillespie and the Dizzy Gillespie Estate, Lee became the director and bassist of the "Dizzy Gillespie™Alumni All-Stars" as well as the "Dizzy Gillespie™All-Star Big Band", and the "Dizzy Gillespie™Afro-Cuban Experience". They have recorded five albums and toured extensively around the world. www.dizzygillespie.org In 2009 John Lee co-founded the jazz recording label JLP (Jazz Legacy Productions), with partner Lisa Broderick. www.jazzlegacyproductions.com