To Be or Not to Bop became a great trumpeter and even the origin of his signature bent trumpet. Various compositions and albums have been named after Gillespie's book title. To Be or Not to Bop To Be or Not to Bop: Memoirs of Dizzy Gillespie is a 1979 book written by jazz musician, composer and band leader Dizzy Gillespie. The book was released in July 1979 by Doubleday. The University of Minnesota Press re-released the book in 2009. He is known for being the father of bebop. This book tells about his life, and what he went through to make this music flourish. The book
Louis Smith (musician) Louis Smith (musician) After graduating from Tennessee State University he attended graduate school at the University of Michigan. While studying at the University of Michigan, he played with visiting musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thad Jones and Billy Mitchell, before going on to play with Sonny Stitt, Count Basie and Al McKibbon, Cannonball Adderley, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, Lou Donaldson, Donald Byrd, Kenny Dorham and Zoot Sims. Smith decided to forego being a full-time musician to take a job a director of Atlanta's Booker T. Washington High School. There he recorded two albums for Blue Note. The