Saturday, April 7, 2018 | 8pm
Sorg Opera House (63 Main St, Middletown, OH 45044)

SORG OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS: THE DIZZY GILLESPIE CENTENNIAL

The CCJO is excited to take our Dizzy concert on the road with our first-ever performance at the newly reopened Sorg Opera House in Middletown! Dizzy Gillespie was a visionary architect of bebop, a peerless trumpet virtuoso, and a gifted educator, dancer and raconteur. The CCJO will dig deep into the musical world of this jazz icon. As much a revolution as it was a movement, bebop marked a decisive line between old and new, ushering in the modern era of jazz.

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About Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer and singer.

Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop.

In the 1940s Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Chuck Mangione, balladeer Johnny Hartma, and one of Gillespie’s final pupils before his death, Robert Stewart (saxophonist).