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| Frank Sinatra |
There are many great musicians in the world that have come
and gone but some have a lasting effect.
John Birk Gillespie is one of them.
Also known as Dizzy Gillespie, he is a legend for the music industry in
the 1940’s as both a performer and a composer.
Dizzy was born in 1917 and passed in 1993. He was best known for his musical talents in
jazz as a trumpeter. He is considered as
one of the best jazz trumpeters of all time.
In the 1940’s Dizzy joined Charlie Parker. This combination leads to the first innovators
in bebop and also modern day jazz. Dizzy
is responsible for teaching other lead trumpeters such as Fats Navarro. Dizzy also performed at many famous jazz clubs
such as Minton’s Playhouse and Monroe’s Uptown House. During his career he also had some
failures. His first attempt to lead a
big band himself was in 1945 and that attempt was very unsuccessful. Later on in his career he put together his first
big band. With his first big band he tried
to expose the style of bebop. With this
he then made himself a symbol of the new school jazz. Dizzy also produced a musical film in 1946
named Jivin’ in Be-Bop. He is one of the
most influential musicians in the 40’s.
Another Influential character in the 1940’s is Cab Calloway. He and Dizzy were onstage partners until 1941
when a predicament occurred onstage. Cab
was reportedly hit with spit balls and accused Dizzy of doing so. Sadly Dizzy was wrongly accused. The musician strike in the 1940’s did not
slow down Cab. Right after the strike
ended he continued to record music. Cab
was best known for his style which he would bend jazz. He had a voice that no other musician had. Frank Sinatra made his career happen in the
1940’s. For artist like Sinatra the
strike helped him and not hurt him.
Early in Sinatra’s career he worked Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Later on iin 1940 he made his first appearance
with the Dorsey band. In 1941 Sinatra
was climbing the charts all the way to number one. He was famous for the saying “Bobby Soxers.” This term is referring to his female
fans. In 1942 he made his “legendary
Opening” at the paramount theater in New York.
During the strike in 1942 Sinatra he rereleased a song named All or
Nothing At All. This song was recorded
in 1939. When originally released his
name was not on the song and no one knew who released it until after the
strike. This then led to the song being
on the bestselling list for 16 weeks.
This had launched his career.
I had never heard of Dizzy Gillespie until now. On the other hand, I have heard of Frank Sinatra and Cab Calloway. I did not know they were famous for their musical talents in jazz though. It kind of seems dumb that Dizzy and Cab got in a big fight over spit balls. That seems pretty childish. It would have been pretty hard to be a musician during the strike. No one was allowed to record music, which would really be hard if you were just starting your career off. I bet it would be so cool to have hear them play live.
ReplyDeleteI am not a big fan of jazz, so all of this is new to me. The only star I recognize is Frank Sinatra, of course. I like that Dizzy didn't give up even after he was unsuccessful with his first big band. That seems to be a common element in a lot of successful people. They may not get it right the first time, but they keep pursuing it. The whole confrontation between Dizzy and Cab seems silly. I can imagine the strike was hard on a lot of musicians. And I never knew that Sinatra first released the song "All or Nothing At All" without his name on it.
ReplyDeleteFrank Sinatra was a very inspirational musician. He was definitely one of the best jazz trumpeters of all time. As for Dizzy, I have never heard of him before. I had no idea that he taught people how to play the trumpet and made his own film. It is cool how he started his own type of music called bebop. I have never really listened to this type of music but I am sure it must be pretty good. Frank Sinatra was in some great bands and he made a great career out of being a talented and well known musician.
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