Puffy-cheeked jazz pioneer Dizzy Gillespie got the Google treatment today, in honor of what would have been his 93rd birthday. A mosaiced version of the bop innovator’s image graced the top of Google’s search page, with Gillespie, trumpet-in-hand stepping for the logo’s “G.”
Gillespie, who died in 1993, at age 75, learned to play the piano at age four. By twelve, he had taught himself to play the trombone at trumpet. Gillespie’s most lasting contributions to the form came in the 1940s, when, alongside artists like Charlie Parker (a frequent collaborator), he helped innovate bebop, a post-swing form of jazz that relied heavily upon improvisation.
Gillespie wrote a number of jazz standards, including “Salt Peanuts,” “Groovin’ High,” and “A Night in Tunisia.” He also made the following truly amazing appearance on The Muppet Show in 1980:
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