Our students studied the life of John Birks 'Dizzy' Gillespie recently. We used the "Meet the Great Jazz Legends" from Alfred Publishing. This is a short summary of the text the students read.

Gillespie was born in 1917 in South Carolina. Gillespie's father, a bricklayer and musician, encouraged him to learn music at a young age. He began trumpet lessons at the age of 12 from his mentor, Roy Eldridge. Gillespie was considered one of the creators of the fast and furious bebop style of jazz music. Some of Gillespie's famous compositions include 'A Night in Tunisia' and 'Salt Peanuts'. He excelled in playing the trumpet and was known for his trumpet with a tilted bell and his puffed cheeks when he played. Gillespie put together a jazz band that played with many other jazz artists. One member of his band, Chano Pozo, shared Gillespie's great interest in Afro-Cuban jazz. Minton's Playhouse in Harlem was considered one of the first places to develop the bebop jazz style by letting many musicians come in and develop creative styles of playing their music. Gillespie was invited by President Carter to play at the White House in 1977. Dizzy Gillespie died in 1993 from pancreatic cancer.

Our students created the questions and we made a multiple choice quiz based on their reading.