Trivia

When playing, Dizzy Gillespie's cheeks would expand to extraordinary size, ballooning out far more than the average horn players do. This feature is so pronounced that there is now a medical condition named after this anomaly. Because he was the first, for all practical purposes, to have demonstrated this condition, and because since its recognition by the medical community there have been others who now exhibit similar symptoms, this condition has been officially named "Gillespie's Pouches".

The trademark bend in Gillespie's trumpet came about due to a dancer falling on it during a show in 1953. He liked the effect that the bend had on his tone, and he had his trumpets custom-made to include it for the rest of his performing career.

He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 20, 1995.

He was nominated for the 2012 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his contributions to Arts and Entertainment.

Had played the trumpet solo on "Do I Do" from Stevie Wonder's compilation album "Musiquarium" (1982).

Following his death, he was interred at Flushing Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York.

Jazz trumpeter, the driving force behind bebop with Charlie Parker.

He was awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award, in 1993.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1982.

He joined the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1957.

He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1989 by the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C.

He was nominated for a 2013 New Jersey Hall of Fame for Arts and Entertainment.

He was inducted into the 2014 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Arts and Entertainment Category.

Father of Jeanie Bryson.

Father James Gillespie, a band leader, mother Lottie Powe, a homemaker.

Brother of Hattie Marie Gillespie, Edward Leroy Gillespie, Eugenia Gillespie, James Penfield Gillespie, Jr, Laura Mattie Gillespie, and Wesley Gillespie.

In 1939 dancer Lorraine Willis introduced him to jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway. He later married her.

In the early 1950s he moved to 34-68 106th Street in Corona, Queens, New York. It was around the corner from Louis Armstrong's house.