Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie
name: label: Musician
content: Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993
label: Donor
content: Fishman, Charles
topic: label: Topic
content: Jazz musicians -- United States
label: Topic
content: Trumpet players -- 20th century
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Charles Fishman, Dizzy Gillespie's manager, in 2007.
creator: label: Musician
content: Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993
label: Donor
content: Fishman, Charles
setName: label: See more items in
content: Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents the career of noted American jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie, through a donation from his former manager, Charles Fishman.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Born in South Carolina in 1917, John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was a master jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer.  In the 1940s, he was one of the principal developers of both bebop and Afro-Cuban jazz.  Through the multitudes of musicians with whom he played and who he encouraged; he was one of the most influential players in the history of jazz.  

The youngest of nine children, Gillespie was exposed to music by his father, a part-time bandleader who kept all his band's instruments at home, where young Gillespie tried them out.  At age twelve, he received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina, where he played trumpet in the school band.  In 1935, at age eighteen, he moved to Philadelphia and joined his first band, where his clownish onstage behavior and sense of humor earned him his nickname, "Dizzy."  Thereafter, he was almost constantly joining and leaving, or forming and disbanding, bands of various size and style, as he set out to first hone his talent, then to develop his own creative innovations and to publish his recordings, and then to fulfill his lifelong desire to lead his own band.  Along the way, he played with, collaborated with, encouraged, and influenced, all the major – and most of the minor – jazz musicians of his age, including Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Billy Eckstine, Cab Calloway, and John Coltrane.

In 1937, Gillespie moved to New York, where he joined Teddy Hill's band; with Hill he made his first overseas tour, to England and France.  By 1939, he had joined Cab Calloway's band and had received his first exposure to Afro-Cuban music.  In 1940, Gillespie met Charlie "Bird" Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Kenny Clarke and together they began developing a distinctive, more complex style of jazz that became known as bebop or bop.  In the early 1940s, Gillespie made several recordings of this new sound.  In 1945, he formed and led his own big band, which was quickly downsized into a quintet due to financial problems.  He was able to reform the band the next year and keep it together for four years, but it was disbanded in 1950.  During this time, he began to incorporate Latin and Cuban rhythms into his work.  In 1953, a dancer accidentally fell on his trumpet and bent the bell.  Gillespie decided he liked the altered tone and thereafter had his trumpets specially made that way.

In 1956, after leading several small groups, the United States State Department asked Gillespie to assemble a large band for an extensive cultural tour to Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, Greece, and Yugoslavia; a second tour, to South America, took place several months later.  Although he kept the band together for two more years, the lack of government funding prevented him from keeping such a large group going and he returned to leading small ensembles.  In 1964, displaying the humor for which he was well-known, Gillespie put himself forward as a candidate for President.  

Gillespie continued to tour, perform, record, and to collaborate with a wide range of other musicians throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  He continued to encourage new styles and new talents, such as Arturo Sandoval, whom he discovered during a 1977 visit to Cuba.  In 1979, Gillespie published his autobiography, To Be or Not to Bop.  In the late 1980s, he organized and led the United Nations Orchestra, a fifteen piece ensemble that showcased the fusion of Latin and Caribbean influences with jazz. In these later years, although still performing, he began to slow down and enjoy the rewards of his extraordinary talent.  He received several honorary degrees, was crowned a chief in Nigeria, was awarded the French Commandre d'Ordre des Artes et Lettres, won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and received both the Kennedy Center Medal of Arts and the ASCAP Duke Ellington Award for Fifty Years of Achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader.  Dizzy Gillespie passed away on January 6, 1993.

Source: National Museum of American History, Collections Committee Memorandum written by Craig Orr on March 6, 2007.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 20 Cubic feet ( 42 boxes, 2 map folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1941-2006, undated
label: Date
content: bulk 1987-1993
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0979
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Audiovisual materials
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Financial records
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Music
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Posters
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is divided into eleven series.


Series 1, Personal Materials, 1988-1993, undated


Series 2, Correspondence, 1987-2002


Series 3, Business Files, 1979-2001, undated


Series 4, Contracts, 1987-1993


Series 5, Performance Programs, 1984-1997


Series 6, Awards and Honors, 1989-1991 


Series 7, Music Manuscripts, undated 


Series 8, Photographs, 1941-1993, undated


Subseries 8.1, Dizzy Gillespie, 1941-1993, undated 


Subseries 8.2, Albums, 1988-1993 


Subseries 8.3, Other Artists, undated 


Subseries 8.4, Negatives, undated 


Series 9, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1958-2000, undated 


Series 10, Artwork and Posters, 1982-2006, undated


Subseries 10.1, Artwork, 1990-2004, undated 


Subseries 10.2, Posters, 1982-2006, undated 


Series 11, Audio Visual Materials, 1950-1992, undated


Subseries 11.1, Sound Recordings, 1989-1992, undated


Subseries 11.2, Moving Images, 1946-1992, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Photographs processed by Adrienne Cain, intern, 2008; Tiffany Daust, intern, 2008; Anne Jones, volunteer, 2008; and Reuben Jackson archivist, 2008. Textual records processed by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archivist, 2013; Alison Oswald, archivist, 2013; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2013. Audiovisual materials processed by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2024.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Audiovisual materials
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Financial records -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Music -- Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- 1940-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Posters -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection primarily documents Charles Fishman's tenure as Gillespie's manager, 1985-1993, and is composed of business records.  There is also a significant amount of personal material and photographs from the 1940s-1980s, much of which was saved by Mr. Fishman when Dizzy Gillespie wanted to throw these materials away or take them home.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials held in the Archives Center


John and Devra Hall Levy Collection NMAH.AC1221


Paquito Rivera NMAH.AC0891


James Moody Papers NMAH.AC1405


Chico O'Farrill Papers NMAH.AC0892


Boyd Raeburn Papers NMAH.AC1431


William Claxton Photographs NMAH.AC0695


Ray Brown Papers NMAH.AC1362


Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters NMAH.AC1207


Graciela Papers NMAH.AC1425


Leonard Gaskin Papers NMAH.AC0900


Ella Fitzgerald NMAH.AC0584


Herman Leonard Photoprints NMAH.AC0445


Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs NMAH.AC0887


John Gensel Collection of Duke Ellington Materials NMAH.AC0763


Duke Ellington Collection NMAH.AC0301


Benny Carter Collection NMAH.AC0757


Chuck Mangione NMAH.AC1151


Bill Holman Collection NMAH.AC0733


Duncan Schiedt Photograph Collection NMAH.AC1323


Fletcher and Horace Henderson Music and Photographs NMAH.AC0797


Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection NMAH.AC0491


W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Publicity Photoprints, Interviews, and Posters NMAH.AC0766


William Russo Music and Personal Papers NMAH.AC0845


Pat and Chuck Bress Jazz Portrait Photographs NMAH.AC1219


Milt Gabler Papers NMAH.AC0849


Floyd Levin Reference Collection NMAH.AC.1222

Materials held in the Division of Culture and the Arts

 
Includes Dizzy Gillespie's iconic "bent" trumpet (1986.0003.01); sound recordings, a button, and a sculpture.  

Materials held in the Smithsonian Institution Archives


National Museum of American History. Office of Public Affairs Accession 95-150


Smithsonian Press/Smithsonian Productions Accession 04-091


Smithsonian Associates. Resident Associate Program Accession 03-086


Smithsonian Resident Associate Program Accession 98-031


Smithsonian Productions Accession 06-181


Smithsonian Resident Associate Program. Office of Public Affairs Record Unit 632


National Museum of American History. Department of Public Programs Accession 17-312


National Museum of American History. Office of Special Events Record Unit 595


Smithsonian Institution. Division of Performing Arts Accession T90055


America's Smithsonian. (Traveling exhibition) Accession 98-142


Smithsonian Institution. Division of Performing Arts Accession 84-012


Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications Record Unit 296


Smithsonian Institution. Office of Telecommunications Record Unit 590

Materials held in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution


Gertrude Abercrombie AAA.abergert

Materials at Other Repositories


Dizzy Gillespie Collection, circa 1987-2000, University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives


John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie Collection, Special Collections Library and University Archives, Vanderbilt University 

http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/specialcollections/

specialcollections@vanderbilt.edu