Dizzy Gillespie won the case, but the jury awarded him only $1000 in view of his high earnings up to that point. In 1951, Gillespie founded his record label, Dee Gee Records; it closed in 1953. On January 6, 1953, he threw a party for his wife Lorraine at Snookie's, a club in Manhattan, where his trumpet's bell got bent upward in an accident, but he liked the sound so much he had a special trumpet made with a 45 degree raised bell, becoming his trademark. In 1956 Gillespie organized a band to go on a State Department tour of the Middle
Mark Levine (musician) Mark Levine (musician) Mark Levine (born 1938) is an American jazz pianist, trombonist, composer, author and educator. He has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Shaw, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaría, Cal Tjader, Willie Bobo, Bobby Hutcherson, and many others. He has written three popular books: "The Jazz Piano Book", "The Jazz Theory Book", and "The Drop 2 Book". He was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Recording in 2003 for his CD "Isla", with his band Mark Levine & The Latin Tinge. He was nominated for a Latin Grammy award in 2010 for his CD