Dave Burns (musician) Dave Burns (musician) David Burns (March 24, Perth Amboy, New Jersey - April 5, 2009, Freeport, New York) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, arranger, composer, and teacher. Burns began playing trumpet when he was nine years old, and heard bebop performances at Minton's Playhouse as a teenager, including Dizzy Gillespie. His first ensemble was Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans, with whom he played from 1941 to 1943, then joined the Army Air Force and led a band from 1943 to 1945 that included James Moody as a sideman. He joined Gillespie's band in 1946 and appeared with Gillespie in "Jivin'
To Be or Not to Bop 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 introduces Dizzy and his friends like Charlie "Bird" Parker as they struggled to make money by playing. Later on it tells of how Dizzy