An evening celebrating the music of Jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie.

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie is a jazz icon. An epochal trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator & singer, his combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit defined the new sound of 1940s bebop. Together with Charlie Parker, this unique approach brought harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality provide one of bebop’s most enduring symbols. A major figure in the development of modern jazz, he taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis and Fats Navarro.

Join the National Youth Jazz Orchestra’s (NYJO) Artistic Director Mark Armstrong as he leads a NYJO sextet playing the music of Dizzy Gillespie!

‘It’s really exciting to explore and perform this music with NYJO’s musicians. Bebop is the musical foundation for what we consider to be modern jazz. It remains radical and challenging, asking questions about the place of jazz in the continuum between art and entertainment and we can celebrate the social and musical pioneers of the 1940s in this great musical style.’ – Mark Armstrong