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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993                   TAG: 9301070156
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ENGLEWOOD, N.J.                                LENGTH: Short

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JAZZ GIANT GILLESPIE DIES

Bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie, who helped popularize jazz through a combination of humor and showmanship - and his trademark bulging cheeks and bent trumpet - died Wednesday at 75.

Gillespie died in his sleep at Englewood Hospital, where he was being treated for pancreatic cancer, said publicist Virginia Wicks.

A recording of his music was playing in his room when he died, Wicks said.

In 1986, Gillespie played at Roanoke's Music for Americans Fourth of July celebration.

"We've lost one of the true giants; not just of music but of humanity," said trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

"It feels as if a part of me has gone," said trumpeter Jon Faddis, who was with him when he died.

Bandleader Woody Herman ranked Gillespie and Louis Armstrong as the most influential jazz musicians of all time. Critic Leonard Feather called him "one of the most creative musicians of the 20th century."

He turned jazz in new directions in at least two ways - as a founding father of the style known as bebop, and when he collaborated with Cuban musicians to give African-American music a Latin beat.

Gillespie wrote or co-wrote many jazz standards, including "A Night in Tunisia," "Groovin' High," "Manteca," "Salt Peanuts," and "Woody 'n You."

He came of age during the Big Band era. But after hours, he and other young players experimented in all-night jam sessions, and bebop was born.

He was generally credited with coining the term bebop when he tried to describe the new style, which employed complex new rhythms and chords.

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