Dizzy Gillespie remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time". The youngest of nine children of James and Lottie Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. His father was a local bandleader, so instruments were made available to the children. Gillespie started to play the piano at the age of four. Gillespie's father died when he was only ten years old. He taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve. From the night he heard his idol, Roy Eldridge, on the radio,
Dizzy Gillespie his last recording session on January 25, 1992. On November 26, 1992, Carnegie Hall, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress, celebrated Gillespie's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. Gillespie was to appear at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included Jon Faddis, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from pancreatic cancer. "But the musicians played their real hearts out for him, no doubt